B5 


m 


W44- 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


GIFT  OF 

Lewis  F.  Lengfeld 


SERMONS, 


ON  THE 


MOSAIC    ACCOUNT   OF  THE    CREATION  j 


THE 


SERPENT'S  TEMPTATION 


TO  OUR  FIRST  PARENTS, 


AND  ON 


THEIR  EXCLUSION   FROM  THE  GARDEN   OF  EDEN. 


BT  STEPHEN\WEST,  D.  D. 

PASTOR  OF   THE  CHURCH   IN  STOCKBRIDGE. 


STOCKBRIDGE  i 

'RINTED  AT  THE  HERALD  OFFICE. 

1809, 


/< 


SERMON  I. 

ON  THE  MOSAIC  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  CREA- 
TION. 

GENESIS,  I.  1,  2. 

IN  THE  BEGINNING  GOD  CREATED  THE  HEAVEN  AND 
THE  EARTH.  AND  THE  EARTH  WAS  WITHOUT 
FORM,  AND  VOID  ;  AND  DARKNESS  WAS  UPON  THE 
FACE  OF  THE  DEEP  :  AND  THE  SPIRIT  OF  GOD  MOV- 
ED UPON  THE  FACE  OF  THE  WATERS. 

AN  account  of  the  origin  of  the  world  in  which  we 
dwell,  how  and  when  it  began  its  existence,  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  rose  into  its  present  form  and  became  so 
adapted  to  the  use  of  man,  cannot  but  be,  both  desira- 
ble, and  interesting.  And,  as  God,  the  Creato^,  sees  fit 
to  make  this  world  the  scene  of  most  wonderful  works, 
and  marvellous  displays  of  his  glory  ;  the  history  he 
has  given  us  of  creation  may,  naturally,  be  concluded  to 
be  instructive.  How  careful  are  men  to  preserve  the  re- 
cords of  great  cities,  or  kingdoms — of  their  rise  and 
prosperity — and  of  the  manner  and  order  in  which  they 
attained  to  their  present  flourishing  condition  !  And  with 
pleasure  and  avidity  are  such  records  generally  read. 
"With  what  humble  gratitude,  then,  should  we  receive 
from  God,  who  alone  could  give  it,  a  history  of  the  ori- 
gin and  beginning  of  that  world,  in  which  we  have  our 
existence,  and  where  the  part  we  act  is  ot  such  vast  and 
never  ending  importance  ! 

IT  is  proposed,  in  this  discourse,  to  make  some  obser- 
vations on  creation,  and  on  what  was  done  on  each  of 
the  six  days,  in  which  God  made  the  heaven  and  the 
earth  :  and,  then  make  such  reflections  and  application, 
as,  it  is  hoped,  may  be  instructive  and  useful. 

150 


IT  is  said  in  our  text,  in  the  beginning  God  created 
the  htr.iven  and  the  earth,  i.  e.  before  there  was  any  tna- 
terial  existence — heaven  and  earth  comprehending  the 
globe  on  which  we  dwell,  and  all  the  heavenly  bodies, 
which  we  behold,  and  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge 
whatever  : — For,  when  it  is  said,  God  made  two  great 
lights  to  rule  the  day  and  the  night,  it  is  added,  u  He 
made  the  stars  also."  Be fore  this,  it  appears,  there 
was  no  creation,  excepting  thut  of  the  angels,  who  are 
spirits.  That  these  had  their  existence  before  this  world, 
is  evident  from  what  God  savs  to  Job  respecting  the  cre- 
ation ot  the  world,  in  his  solemn  address  to  him,  Job. 
xxxviii.  6,  7.  "  Whereupon  are  the  foundations  there- 
"  of  fastened  ?  Or  who  laid  the  corner  stone  thereof, 
"  when  the  morning  stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons 
"  of  God  shouted  for  joy  ?"  When  we  attend  strictly 
to  the  holy  scriptures,  and  to  the  manifest  sense  and  im- 
port of  them,  we  fin  there  is  much  reason  to  conclude, 
there  never  was,  or  will  be  any  other  creation,  excepting 
that  of  the  angels,  than  what  was  done  antl  completed  in 
those  six  days,  the  work  of  each  one  of  which  is  mention- 
ed in  the  chapter  before  us.  All  the  infinitely  import- 
ant ends  of  creation,  and  of  divine  providence,  are  to  be 
answered  in  God's  government  over  the  angels,  and  over 
the  several  objects,  which  were  created  in  six  (Jays. 

OF  creation,  and  of  creative  power,  we  can  have  no 
better  or  inore  striking  ideas  than  are  conveyed  by  the 
strong  and  impressive  terms,  in  which  the  account  is 
given  us  by  the  sacred  writer.  u  God  spake,  and  it 
«  was — He'  said,  let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light." 
From  this  consideration  David  infers  the  obligation 
there  is  on  all  to  fear  the  Lord.  Psalm  xxxiii.  8,  9. 
"  Let  all  the  earth  fear  the  Lord  ;  let  all  the  inhubit- 
u  ants  of  the  world  stand  in  awe  of  him.  For  he  spake, 
11  and  it  was  done  ;  he  commanded,  and  it  stood  fast.'1 
What  language,  beyond  this,  could  give  us  an  idea  of 
almighty  power — of  a  power,  which  it  is  impossible  to 


THE  work  of  the  first  of  the  six  days,  we  have  in  the 
five  first  verses.  "  In  the  beginning  God  created  the 
"  heaven  and  the  earth.  And  the  earth  was  without 


4i  form,  and  void  ;  and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  oi 
<*  the  deep  :  and  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the 
w  face  of  the  waters.  And  God  said,  Let  there  he  light, 
"  and  there  was  light.  And  God  saw  the  light,  that  it 
u  was  good  :  and  God  divided  the  light  from  the  dark- 
<•'  ness.  And  God  called  the  light  Day,  and  the  dark- 
"  ness  he  called  Night.  And  the  evening  and  the 
"  morning  were  the  first  day."  It  seems  hy  this  ac- 
count, that  the  earth,  at  its  first  appearance,  was  a  con- 
fused mass-.— its  materials  lying  in  a  chaotic  state,  with- 
out order  and  arrangement :  But  the  Spirit  of  God, 
divine  Energy,  moved  on  the  face  of  the  waters — God 
spake,  and  light  appeared.  It  should  seem,  by  the  ac- 
count, that  the  light  was  rather  obscure,  and  diffused 
over  the  mass  of  matter,  which  was  yet  lying  in  confu- 
sed orJer ;  but  that  God,  nevertheless,  made  such  a 
separation  of  it  from  total  darkness,  as  to  form  a  dis- 
tinction betwixt  day  and  night :  For  God  had  not  yet 
formed  the  two  great  lights,  which  we  behold  in  the 
heaven, 

IN  the  three  next  succeeding  verses,  we  have  an  ac- 
count of  the  second  day's  work.  "  And  God  said,  Let 
"  there  be  a  firmament  in  the  midst  of  the  waters  ;  and 
a  let  it  divide  the  waters  from  the  waters.  And  God 
a  made  the  firmament,  and  divided  the  waters,  which 
a  were  under  the  firmament,  from  the  waters  which 
4i  were  above  the  firmament,  and  it  was  so.  And  God 
'*  called  the  firmament  Heaven  :  and  the  evening  and 
"  the  morning  were  the  second  day."  What  is  here 
termed  a  firmament  means  an  expanse — the  large  ex- 
pansion we  behold  with  our  eyes  above  the  face  of  the 
ground,  which  soon  then  began  to  appear.  For  now  a 
division  or  separation  of  waters  was  made.  The  waters 
were  separated  from  the  air,  the  atmosphere,  which  sur- 
rounds our  earth,  and  in  which  we  breathe.  And  in  the 
verses  immediately  following,  we  have  an  account  of 
the  waters  being  gathered  into  one  place,  which  are  call- 
ed Seas  ;  and  of  the  immediate  appearance  of  the  dry 
land — Of  the  formation  of  the  grass,  and  of  trees  to  bear 
fruit,  each  containing  seed  in  itself  for  a  continued  suc- 
cession acd  growth  of  them  on  the  face  of  the  earth. — 
God  speaks,  and  these  all  immediately  rise  into  life.—- 


Here  was  provision  for  the  designed  inhabitants  of  the 
«arth,  both  human  and  brutal.  God  would  not  create  a 
living  creature,  until  suitable  provision  was  made  for  its 
sustenance  and  support. 

STILL,  man,  the  principal  object  of  all,  and  on  whom 
God's  heart  appears  to  have  been  greatly  and  principally- 
set,  was  not  yet  properly  provided  for.  Therefore  the 
sacred  historian  goes  on  to  relate,  in  the  following  ver- 
ses, the  formation  of  the  Sun  and  the  Moon,  the  two 
great  lights  we  behold  in  the  heaven,  to  enable  us  to 
divide  and  reckon  time,  and,  in  innumerable  ways,  to 
subserve  our  convenience,  and  promote  our  comforts.— 
These,  we  observe,  (as  we  shall  have  occasion  further 
to  notice,  by  and  by,)  were  the  work  of  the  fourth  day. 
This  great  Sun,  this  mighty  orb  in  the  centre  of  our  sys- 
tem, seems  to  be  the  animating,  lifegiving  principle  to  all 
nature,  and  all  earthly  productions — without  whose  light 
and  heat,  too,  man  could  not  live.  Being  now  formed 
and  completed,  we  may  reasonably  suppose,  that,  on  the 
morning  of  the  fifth  day,  it  rose  and  shone  in  all  its 
splendor  upon  the  earth. 

ON  the  fifth  day  God  created  the  inhabitants  of  the 
air  and  of  the  water.  This  account,  again  we  have  in 
the  same  majestic  stile  as  had  been  used  respecting  the 
preceding  works  of  the  divine  hand.  God  said  Let  it  be, 
and  it  was.  But  here  was  a  further  display  of  divine 
wisdom  and  power,  in  the  view  of  the  angelic  host,  than 
had  been  before  made.  The  almighty  -word  not  only 
brought  the  several  species  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  water 
and  or  the  air,  into  existence,  but  caused  them  to  bring 
forth  abundantly  after  their  kind,  carrying  a  power  in  it, 
which  secured  a  perpetual  succession  of  them  so  long  as 
the  world  should  endure.  Here  was  something  new  to 
the  angels,  which  they  had  neither  seen,  nor  apprehended 
before.  Thus  gradually  did  God  manifest  his  power, 
and  unfold  his  wisdom  to  those  holy  and,  as  we  have 
reason  to  suppose,  newly  created  intelligences. 

IT  was  on  the  sixth  day  that  the  brutal  creation,  which 
move  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  were  made.  The  Al- 
mightj* jf of  al  once  made  the  earth  fruitful,  so  that  it 


brought  forth  living  creatures,  both  cattle  and  creeping 
things  to  move  upon  its  face.  This  seems  to  have  been 
done  on  the  morning  of  the  sixth  day.  And  now,  all 
the  provision,  all  the  preparation  for  an  inhabitant  of  the 
earth  of  an  higher  order  was  completed.  All  that  was 
yet  made  was  to  subserve  the  purposes  and  the  conven- 
ience of  man.  What  infinitely  kind  and  benevolent  de- 
signs, may  it  be  seen,  God  entertained  towards  men ! 
How  much  must  his  heart  have  been  on  man,  and  the 
good  of  man,  that  such  large  and  rich  provision  should 
be  made  for  him  ;  and,  not  only  this,  but  that  a  higher 
and  superior  order  of  beings  should  be  created,  to  be 
spectators  of  what  God  was  doing  for  men. 

AND  now,  when  the  earth  and  all  the  heavenly  bodies 
we  behold  were  completed,  and  the  earth  replenished 
with  every  thing,  both  animate  and  inanimate,  which 
was  necessary  for  the  use,  the  convenience  and  the  com- 
fort of  man,  then  seems  to  have  been,  as  it  were,  a  sol- 
emn pause  !  Man,  the  great  and  ultimate  object  of  cre- 
ation, was  not  yet  made.  That  moral,  rational  nature, 
which  was  to  bear  the  imagpe  of  God — which  was  to  be 
taken  into  a  most  near  and  intimate  union  with  God — 
and  in  which  God  himself  was  to  appear  upon  earth,  and 
dwell  with  men,  was  not  yet  formed.  As  this  was  the 
nature,  in  which  God's  glory  was  forever  to  shine  more 
visibly  and  clearly,  than  in  all  his  other  works,  the  infi- 
nite importance  of  this  nature — of  man  to  the  great  and 
ultimate  object  of  creation  were  such  as,  in  God's  view, 
required  a  consultation  of  the  whole  Godhead — all  the 
Three  Persons  in  the  ever  blessed  Trinity*  There  be- 
ing now  every  way  a  sufficient  furniture,  on  earth,  for 
such  an  inhabitant,  the  sacred  histofian  tells  us,  ver.  26, 
and  on,  "  And  God  said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  im- 
"  age,  after  our  likeness  ;  and  let  them  have  dominion 
"  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air, 
"  and  over  the  cattle,  and  over  all  the  earth,  and  over 
"  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth. 
u  So  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image 
u  of  God  created  he  him  ;  male  and  female  created  he 
"  them.  And  God  blessed  them,  and  lincl  said  unto 
"  them,  Be  fruitful  and  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth-, 
"  and  subdue  it :  and  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of 


I 

<:  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  every 
"  living  thing  that  moveth  upon  the  earth."  Here  we 
learn  our  own  origin  ;  and,  see  the  energy,  the  continu- 
ed and  vastly  extended  influence  of  that  powerful  word} 
which  bade  man  be  fruitful  and  multiply  and  replenish 
the  earth.  A  review  of  the  mighty  works  of  God  in 
the  provision  and  preparation  made  for  man,  and  for  his 
comfort  and  good — of  the  evidences  there  are,  that  his 
heart  was  greatly  set  on  man— and  of  the  excellent  mor- 
al nature,  with  which  he  was  originally  endowed,  being 
made  in  God's  own  image,  and  after  his  likeness,  it  should 
seem,  could  hardly  fail  of  inspiring  us  with  a  deep  sense 
of  the  evil,  the  base  ingratitude  of  sinning  against  him  \ 
As  man  was  the  noblest  work  of  this  great  creation,  God 
placed  him  at  the  head  of  it,  and  gave  him  dominion 
over  all  things  here  below.  In  contemplating  the  di- 
vine goodness  to  man,  David  breaks  out  with  astonish- 
ment, Ps.  viii.  3 — 6.  *'  When  I  consider  the  heavens, 
"  the  work  of  thy  fingers  ;  the  moon  and  the  stars 
"  which  thou  hast  ordained  ;  What  is  man,  that  thou 
*'  art  mindful  of  him  ?  and  the  son  of  man,  that  thou 
"  visitest  him  ?  For  thou  hast  made  him  a  little  lower 
u  than  the  angels,  and  hast  crowned  him  with  glory  and 
u  honor.  Thou  hast  made  him  to  have  dominion  over 
"  the  works  of  thy  hands  ;  thou  hast  put  all  under  his 
«  feet." 

ON  a  review,  as  we  may  say,  of  his  great  work,  God  saw 
that  all  was  very  good.  On  the  seventh  day,  God  rest- 
ed from  all  his  work,  i.  e.  he  ceased  from  creating,  hav- 
ing completed  the  whole  system  perfectly  to  his  own 
mind,  and  resting  in  all  as  being  good.  And,  as  man 
was  created  in  his  image,  capable  of  beholding  his  glory 
appearing  in  his  works,  acknowledging  his  great  good- 
ness to  him  in  the  rational,  immortal  nature  he  had 
given  him,  and  of  celebrating  his  praise,  God  establish- 
ed it  as  a  perpetual  law  for  man,  that  he  should,  also, 
rest  from  the  labor  he  had  appointed  him,  on  every 
seventh  day ;  spending  it  in  humble  acknowledgements 
of  what  he  owed  to  God,  his  sovereign,  the  author  and 
preserver  of  all  his  rational  powers  j  and,  in  praises  to 
his  great  and  glorious  name,  for  his  wonderful  goodness 
to  him. 


AND  now  this  world  was  finished — the  whole  system. 

formed every  body  in   it  fixed  in  its  proper  place  and 

order— ^and,  what  we  commonly  term  the  laws  of  nature 
all  established  and  put  in  operation.  And,  by  that  all 
powerful  word,  which  first  brought  them  into  being, 
placed  them  in  their  present  order,  and  set  them  in  mo- 
tion, they  maintain  that  uniform  harmony  and  regularity 
in  which  they  were  first  established  ;  and,  will  continue 
and  persevere  in  the  same,  until  the  final  consummation. 
What  reason  have  we,  all,  to  say  with  David,  Psalm  xix. 
1 — 4..  "  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  ;  and  the 
"  firmament  sheweth  his  handy  work.  Day  unto  day 
"  uttereti  speech,  and  night  unto  night  sheweth  knowl- 
*'  edge.  There  is  no  speech  nor  language,  where  their 
"  voice  is  not  heard.  Their  line  is  gone  out  through 
"  all  the  earth,  and  their  words  to  the  end  of  the  world." 

Now  that  world  was  finished,  which  was  to  be  a  scene 
of  wonders — That  world,  where  God's  great  work  lies, 
more  than  any  where,  or  every  where  else.  A  world 
in  which  God  himself  was  to  be  manifest  in  flesh — And, 
where  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God  was  to  be  shed. 
Now  that  rational  nature  and  creature,  which  was  more 
an  ultimate  end  of  creation,  than  any  thing  and  every 
thing  else,  was  formed  and  brought  into  being.  Now 
the  existence  of  that  race  was  begun,  out  of  which  God 
designed  to  take  materials,  and  form  into  the  most  glori- 
ous building,  that  ever  was  or  ever  will  be — That  house, 
in  which  he  himself  will  forever  dwell. 

As  the  angelic  hosts  were  to  have  a  very  great  inter- 
est in  those  displays  of  divine  wisdom  and  power  and 
love,  which  were  to  be  made  in  his  dealings  with  men, 
God  saw  fit  that  they  should  be  spectators  of  this  great 
work  of  creation  ;  and,  see  and  observe  the  manner  and 
order,  in  which  that  world  rose  into  being,  which  was  to 
be,  for  a  while,  the  residence  of  that  race  of  beings,  to 
which  they  were  to  minister*  The  benefit  and  good  of 
this  higher  order  of  beings,  was  one  great  object,  which 
God  had  in  view  in  his  original  plan  of  the  great  work 
of  redemption  by  Christ.  For  we  are  told,  Ephes.  iii. 
9,  10, 11.  That  God  "  created  all  things  by  Jesus  Christ. 
u  To  the  intent  that  now  unto  the  principalities  and 
B 


iO 

"  powers  in  heavenly  places,  might  be  known,  by  the 
"  church  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God,  according  to  his 
41  eternal  purpose,  which  he  purposed  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
"  Lord."  Now  they  behold  the  creature— that  moral 
rational  nature,  to  winch,  though  inferior  to  theirs,  God 
would  more  nearly  unite  himself,  than  to  them — into 
which  he  would  more  plentifully  empty  of  his  own  glo- 
rious fulness,  than  into  them— -And,  which  was  to  be 
raised  to  a  greater  and  more  glorious  nearness  to  him, 
than  the  holy  angels  themselves.  Now  they  saw  the 
being,  and  the  beginning  of  that  race,  to  which  they  were 
to  be  ministering  spirits.  And  now,  most  probably, 
God  revealed  to  them,  that  it  was  to  be  their  future  du- 
ty and  work  to  minister  to  him  in  this  nature  in  raising 
up  a  church  from  among  men  to  be  to  the  praise  of  his 
glorious  grace  forever.  This,  we  have  reason  to  suppose, 
was  the  trial  assigned  to  the  angels,  who  were  spectator* 
of  this  great  work — The  test  of  their  obedience. 

APPLICATION. 

1.  IT  ever  becomes  us,  the  priviledged  descendants 
from  the  first  happy  pair,  to  remember,  with  gratitude 
and  praise  to  God,  that  we  are  of  that  race,  that  order  of 
beings,  which  is  of  unspeakably  greater  importance  to 
the  purpose  of  God's  glory  and  love,  than  any  or  all  oth- 
er creatures — That  we  are  of  that  nature,  which  is  taken 
into  a  union  with  the  divine,  and  into  a  glorious  nearness 
to  God — of  that  nature,  in  which  the  highest  perfection 
and  glory  of  divine  goodness  and  love  are  forever  to  ap- 
pear. When  we  consider  the  astonishing  wonders, 
which  have  been  wrought  on  earth,  and  in  God's  dealings 
with  men — which  are  still  taking  place,  and  will  continue 
to  take  place  here, to  the  end  of  time— When  we  reflect, 
that  GOD,  the  creator  of  the  world,  and  of  man,  is  per- 
petually and  uninterruptedly  watching  over  the  world- 
guiding,  directing  and  managing  all,  even  its  most 
minute  interests  and  concerns,  and  those  of  all  other 
worlds  too,  in  subserviency  to  purposes  of  infinite  love 
and  mercy  and  grace  to  men — When,  I  say,  we  reflect 
on  these  things,  how  can  it  be  otherwise  than  pleasing, 
entertaining  and  instructive,  to  dwell,  some  of  our  time, 
in  thoughts  and  meditations  on  the  origin  and  formation 
of  this  great  world,  in  which  we  dwell,  and  on  which 


11 

such  wonders  and  glory  were  to  be  unfolded,  and  are 
now  continually  unfolding  before  our  eyes — On  which 
those  most  marvellous  scenes  are  opening,  in  which  we 
ourselves  have  so  vast  and  never  ending  an  interest ! 
How  thankful  ought  we  to  be  to  God  for  the  plain,  cor- 
rect account  here  given  us,  of  the  manner  and  order,  in 
which  his  own  powerful  word  caused  this  world  and  all 
its  inhabitants  to  rise  into  existence  !  It  gives  us  to  see, 
that  there  is  order  in  all  God's  works :  and  GOD,  and 
his  power  and  wisdom  were,  unquestionably,  much 
more  clearly  seen,  and,  of  consequence,  much  more  ad- 
mired and  adored  by  the  angelic  host,  than  they  would, 
or  could,  have  been,  had  the  powerful  word,  the  divine 
fat  brought  all  into  existence  at  once,  and  in  an  instant, 
as  it  could  have  done. 

INFIDELS  object,  that  it  is  incredible,  GOD  should 
be  six  days  on  the  work  of  creation  ;  and,  therefore, 
consider  the  Mosaic  account  of  it  as  fabulous.  No  rea- 
sonable conjecture,  however,  can  be  formed,  how  such 
,a  thought — such  ideas  of  the  work  of  creation  should  ev- 
er enter  the  mind  of  man,  unless  they  were  immediately 
suggested  by  the  Spirit  of  the  -Creator  himself.  As  it  is, 
the  account  is  fitted,  much  more,  to  awaken  our  atten- 
tion, and  to  raise  our  wonder  and  admiration,  than  had  it 
actually  been,  and  only  related,  that  with  one  -word's 
speaking,  God  made  the  whole.  Besides  the  evident 
order,  in  which  the  system  rose,  by  several  gradations, 
into  its  present  form  and  beauty,  which  is,  in  itself,  fitted 
to  afford  both  entertainment  and  instruction  ;  the  Mo- 
saic history  awakens  our  attention  to  a  voice — a  power, 
which  is  adequate  to  creation  itsel1",  on  every  renewed 
advance  of  this  great  work  toward  its  present  perfection. 
And,  as  the  angels  were  to  have  so  great  an  interest  in 
man,  and  in  the  ivine  transactions  with  men,  the  prepa- 
ration gradually  made  for  him,  by  one  display  of  divine 
power  and  wisdom  "after  another,  through  each  of  the 
six  days,  would  naturally  excite  their  attention  and  ex- 
pectations, and  lead  them  to  conceive  man,  for  whom  all 
this  preparation  was  ma  :e,.to  be,  in  some  way  or  other, 
of  very  great  importance  to  the  full  accomplishment  of 
the  ends  for  which  creation  took  place. 


12 

BUT  this  is  not  all ;  out  of  this  is  to  arise  a  far  more 
glorious  creation  than  the  first.  And  the  mighty  dis- 
plays of  divine  power,  wisiom  and  goodness,  which  are 
here  made  in  the  vast  and  infinitely  expensive  provision 
for  man,  and  for  the  good  of  man,  inexpressibly  exceed 
any  ihing,  which  appeared  in  the  former  creation.  How 
must  the  heart  of  the  Great  God  have  been  set  on  man,  for 
his  own  great  name's  sake,  from  eternity  ;  and  on  those 
manifestations  of  divine  wisdom  and  power  and  love 
which  are  made  in  the  recovery  and  salvation  of  sinners  ! 
The  order,  in  which  the  old  creation  rose  to  its  present 
form  and  beauty,  may  prefigure  an  order  in  the  new  ; 
and,  in  this  view,  be  verv  instructive. — Relative  to  this, 
it  is  proposed,  some  observations,  shall  in  their  proper 
place,  be  made. 

2.  WHAT  abundant  ground  have  we,  for  gratitude  and 
praise  to  God,  for  the  account  here  given  us  of  the  orig- 
inal creation  !  In  what  uncertainty  and  darkness  should 
\ve  have  been  involved,  on  this  subject,  had  it  not  been 
for  divine  revelation  !  Without  this,  we  should  not  have 
known  how  or  when  the  world  came  into  being — How 
there  came  to  be  so  many,  and  such  different  orders  of 
creatures  upon  it — How  it  comes  to  pass,  that  a  succes- 
sion of  each  of  all  these  orders  is  continued — Nor,  the 
final  destination  of  the  whole,  or  of  any  part  of  thtm. 
And,  considering  the  nature  and  character  of  men,  it  is 
at  least  doubtful,  to  say  no  more,  whether  any  one,  had 
there  been  no  immediate  divine  revelation,  would  ever 
have  had  his  thoughts  raised,  from  the  visible  creation, 
to  the  existence  of  One  eternal,  invisible,  all-wise  and 
omnipotent  Creator.  But  take  the  account  here  given 
us  of  creation,  in  connexion  with  the  series  of  events,  as 
they  have  been  taking  place  ever  since,  and  as  they  are 
still  yet  taking  place  ;  the  character  and  glory  of  the 
Great  Creator  are  continually  unfolJing  more  and  more, 
and  will  be  so,  until  the  final  consummation.  Take  away 
divine  revelation,  the  world,  in  a  moral  view,  will  only 
resemble  the  earth,  when  it  was  without  form,  and  void, 
and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep. 

6.  WHATEVER  glory  there  v/ere  in  the  first  creation,  it 
was  originally  in  God's  design,  that  this  should  be  fol- 


13 

lowed  by  another,  of  a  different  nature,  and  far  more 
glorious — That  the  first  should  be  preparatory  to  the 
second,  and  the  second,  in  some  sense,  grow  out  of  the 
first  Though  the  constitution,  under  the  first  creation 
and  covenant,  was  perfectly  good  ;  and,  had  our  first 
parents  continued  innocent,  would  have  been  followed 
with  great  and  uninterrupted  felicity  ;  still,  divine  good 
will  and  love  could  not  be  satisfied  with  all  that  creature 
holiness  and  happiness,  which  would,  or  could  have  ta- 
ken place  under  it.  It  was,  therefore,  in  the  eternal 
counsel  of  God,  to  form,  out  of  the  ruins  of  this,  another 
creation,  of  a  different  nature,  which  displays  a  glory  of 
divine  power  and  wisdom  and  love,  unspeakably  sur- 
passing any,  that  did,  or  ever  could  have  appeared  in  the 
old.  Hear  the  strong  language,  in  which  GOD  express- 
es himself  on  the  subject,  by  the  prophet,  Isai.  Ixv.  17, 
18.  u  For  behold,  I  create  new  heavens,  and  a  new 
u  earth  :  and  the  former  shall  not  be  remembered,  nor 
u  come  into  mind.  But  be  ye  glad  and  rejoice  forever 
u  in  that  which  I  create  :  for,  behold,  I  create  Jerusa- 
"  lem  a  rejoicing,  and  her  people  a  joy."  Observe  the 
bold  figures,  the  prophet  makes  use  of,  relative  to  the 
glory  of  this  new  creation,  Isaiah  xxx.  26.  "  More- 
"  over,  the  light  of  the  moon  shall  be  as  the  light  of 
"  the  sun,  and  the  light  of  the  sun  shall  be  sevenfold, 
tc  as  the  light  of  seven  days,  in  the  day  that  the  Lord 
"  bin  Jeth  up  the  breach  of  his  people,  and  healeth  the 
11  stroke  of  their  wound."  Again,  Isaiah  xxiv.  23. 
"  Then  the  moon  shall  be  confounded,  and  the  sun 
"  ashamed,  when  the  Lord  of  hosts  shall  reign  in  Je- 
41  rusalem,  and  before  his  ancients  gloriously."  It  being 
the  purpose  of  God,  that  a  new  creation  should  follow 
the  old,  and,  in  some  respects,  grow  out  of  it ;  it  may 
be  no  more  than  natural  to  suppose,  that  there  was  some- 
thing in  the  order,  in  which  the  old  creation  rose  gradu- 
ally to  that  state  of  perfection,  in  which  it  finally  appear- 
ed, which  in  some  measure,  prefigured  the  rise  of  the 
new  creation,  out  of  a  state  of  awful  moral  darkness  and 
disorder,  to  that  state  of  perfection  and  glory,  to  which 
it  will  be  brought  by  the  power  of  Christ. 

AFTER  the  introduction  of  sin  into  the  world,  all,  in  a 
moral  view,  was  disorder  and  darkness  :   And  though  a 


14 

rational  nature  was  left,  in  man,  after  the  fall,  and  some 
materials  out  of  which  the  power  an  '  wisdom  of  God 
could  form  a  church  ;  yet  all  was  without  f'.rm,  and 
void,  and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep.  Now, 
then,  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  moved  on  the  face  of  the 
deep ;  and  God  said,  Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was 
light.  To  this  the  apostle  alludes,  when  he  says,  2  Cor. 
iv.  6.  "  For  God,  who  commanded  the  light  to  shine 
*'  out  of  darkness^  hath  shined  in  our  hearts,  to  give 
*'  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  Ciod  in  the 
"  face  of  Jesus  Christ."  The  light  began  to  beam  in 
that  ever  memorable  and  gracious  promise,  Gen.  iii.  15, 
that  the  seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  serpent's 
head.  And  now,  we  may  reasonably  suppose,  the  king- 
dom of  grace  was  begun,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  sent  down 
to  soften  the  hearts  of  our  first  parents.  Now,  also,  we 
have  reason  to  believe,  that  sacrifices  were  institu- 
ted ;  for  we  are  told,  that  u  unto  Adam  and  his  wife 
"  did  the  Lord  God  make  coats  of  skins,  and  clothed 
"  them."  Gen.  iii.  21.  Now  things  began  to  take  place 
to  prefigure  the  coming  of  Christ,  and  to  prepare  the 
way  for  it :  And  that  new  creation  was  begun,  which 
was  to  follow  the  old  and  so  far  surpass  it  in  glory. 
This  answered  to  the  first  day's  work  of  the  old  creation- 
It  was  a  prevalent  opinion,  amongst  the  Jews,  that  the 
world  would  continue  in  a  state  of  moral  disorder  and 
confusion  for  the  space  of  six  thousand  years  ;  but  that 
the  seventh  thousand,  should  open  a  new  and  happier 
state  of  things,  and  be  the  great  Sabbath,  the  rest  of  the 
church  here  on  earth.* 

FROJI  the  time  that  gospel  light  first  began  to  dawn, 
God  went  on,  in  his  holy  and  wise  providence,  preparing 

*  Whether  the  apostle  had  reference  to  this,  when  he  says,  as  2 
Pet.  iii.  8,  we  will  not  decide. — His  words  are  these,  **  But,  belov- 
*'  ed,  be  not  ignorant  of  this  one  thing,  that  one  day  is  with  the  Lord 
"  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day."  His  mind 
might,  possibly,  have  been  led,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  to  apprehend  an  allusion  in  the  six  da^s  work  of  creation,  to 
the  formation  and  state  of  the  new  creation  through  the  term  of  six 
thousand  years  from  the  completion  of  the  old :  and,  in  the  rest  of  the 
seventh,  to  the  happy,  peaceful  state  of  the  Church,  through  the 
seventh  thousand  years  ;  soon  after  which  the  dissolution  of  the  pres- 
ent heavens  and  earth  is  to  be  expected. 


15 

the  way  for  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  to  appear.  We  find 
that,  when  the  fourth  day's  work  of  creation  was  accom- 
plished, the  natural  light,"  which  had  been  but  feeble  and 
glimmering,  was  collected  into  one  great  luminary  j 
and,  arose  and  shone,  on  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day, 
with  a  brightness  and  splendor,  which  had  never  before 
appeared.  In  four  thousand  years  from  the  creation, 
God  saw  the  way  to  be  prepared  for  the  coming  of 
Christ :  And,  on  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  millenary,  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness  arose,  and  shone  on  this  dark 
world.  Now  the  prophecy,  IN^alachi  iv,  2,  was  fulfilled, 
44  Uuto  you  that  tear  my  name  shall  the  Sun  of  Righ- 
44  teousness  arise,  with  healing  in  his  wings  ;  and  ye 
44  shall  go  fcrth,  and  grow  up  a%  calves  of  the  stall." 
And  now,  under  the  infinitely  wise  and  gracious  direc- 
tion of  the  glorious  Head  of  the  church,  things  are  going 
on  in  a  state  of  preparation  for  the  happy  period  of  the 
world's  great  sabbath  of  rest,  when  the  new  creation,  the 
Christian  church,  shall  appear  in  far  greater  spiritual 
beauty  and  perfection,  than  it  ever  had  done  before  on 
earth.  And,  to  the  glory  and  praise  of  the  divine  Sav- 
iour, under  his  powerful  and  forming  hand,  it  will  rise 
into  a  building  fit  for  God.  Well  may  we,  who  live  sa 
near  the  happy  day,  h-iil  its  coming:  And,  when  the 
.Lord  is  saying  to  us,  in  his  providence,  *'  behold,  I  come 
44  quickly,"  reply,  "  even  so,  come  Lord  Jesus." 

4.  WHAT  has  been  said  respecting  the  creation  of  the 
world,  may  lead  us  to  contemplate  and  admire  that  di- 
vine wisdom  and  glory,  which  appear,  and  which  will 
forever  appear  more  and  more,  in  the  new  creation,  the 
Christian  church — a  church  formed  out  of  such  materi- 
als as  the  Christian  church  is  formed  ;  and,  raised  up 
from  such  depths  of  ruin,  of  sin  and  misery  and  wretch- 
edness, to  a  state  of  such  spiritual  perfection  and  beauty 
as,  in  due  time,  she  will  appear  in  ;  and,  to  such  unspeak- 
able felicity  as  will  be  enjoyed  in  that  glorious  nearness  to 
God,  to  which  she  will  hereafter  be  admitted.  This  was 
God's  plan  from  the  beginning — This  was  his  eternal 
purpose  :  And,  was  what  gave  birth  to  the  first  creation. 
Therefore  Christ,  who  is,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  at  the 
head  of  the  new  creation,  stiles  himself  u  The  beginning 
"  of  the  creation  of  God."  Rev.  iii.  14,  Importing  that 


Ib 

(speaking  after  the  manner  of  men)  the  first  thing  ever 
done  by  the  Deity  was,  for  the  several  persons  in  the 
Godhead  to  concert  the  great  plan  for  raising  up  a  church 
from  the  ruins  of  the  fall  of  man  ;  and,  the  Son  of  God 
take  upon  himself  the  great  and  most  important  offices, 
which  he  was  to  perform  in  this  most  wonderful  of  all 
God's  works.  This  was  the  device  and  work  of  the 
whole  Godhead— The  several  persons  in  the  ever  blessed 
Trinity  uniting  in  it.  Accordingly,  when  man,  the  la- 
vored  creature  out  of  which  the  church  was  to  be  form- 
ed and  rise,  was  to  be  created,  God  said,  Let  us  make 
man. 

THAT  there  are,  and  will  be,  displays  of  divine  power 
and  wisdom  and  love  in  the  salvation  of  sinners,  and  in 
the  formation  and  completion  of  the  Christian  church, 
inconceivably  more  bright  and  glorious  than  there  would 
have  been  any  opportunity  for  under  that  order  and 
course  of  things,  which  was  established  in  the  first  crea- 
tion of  the  world,  will  admit  of  no  reasonable  doubt. 
Had  man  remained  innocent,  and  things  continued  and 
gone  on  agreeably  to  the  constitution  originally  formed 
and  established  with  him  ;  that  manifold  wisdom  of  God, 
which  is  known  by  the  church^  never  would  have  been 
visible  to  creatures,  or  apprehended,  or  conceived  by 
them.  It  never  would  otherwise  have  been  seen  and 
known,  with  what  infinite  strength,  and  to  what  an  infi- 
nite extent  God's  heart  is  set  on  doing  good — on  diffu- 
sing happiness  ;  nor,  what  unbounded  sources  there  are 
in  Him  for  raising  creatures  to  such  an  incomprehensi- 
ble height  of  holiness  and  happiness,  as  his  church  will 
yet  be  raised,  to  the  eternal  glory  of  his  own  great  name. 
But  that  there  is  wisdom  enough,  and  power  enough,  and 
love  enough  in  the  Great  God,  to  do  all  this — and  that, 
too,  for  enemies — for  such  as  deserve  nothing  but  eternal 
banishment  from  his  blessed  pres  nee  and  favor,  is 
now  put  beyoad  all  doubt,  by  God^s  being  manifest  in 
Jlesh — dwelling  with  men,  and  doing  the  works  he  did 
on  earth — making  his  soul  an  oifering  for  sin — and,  as- 
cending to  the  right  hand  of  God,  and  forever  making 
intercession.  All  that  height  of  happiness,  to  which  the 
Christian  church  will,  hereafter,  be  raised  in  heaven,  to- 
gether with  all  the  wrath,  which  will  be  poured  out  on 


17 

the  enemies  of  Christ,  and  of  his  glorious  work,  will 
serve  unitedly  to  illustrate  the  strength  and  infiniteness, 
the  purity  and  glory  of  divine  love. 

5.  LET  no  one,  then,  complain  of  Q\ir  Jl rut  parents y 
as  though  they,  by  their  fall,  had  subjected  him  to  great 
evil  and  irretrievable  disadvantage  ;  but,  remember  that, 
where  sin  has  abounded,  God  has  caused  his  grace  much 
more  to  abound,  by  Jesus  Christ,  towards  us.  True  it 
is,  that  Adam  brought  sin  and  evil  into  this  world  ;  and, 
was  the  criminal  occasion  of  involving  his  whole  pos- 
terity in  a  ruin,  from  which  nothing  but  Almighty  pow- 
er and  grace  could  recover  them.  Though  Adam  meant 
it  for  evil,  yet  the  infinitely  wise  Disposer  of  all  events, 
meant  all  for  good — And  has  made  his  sin  and  fall  the 
occasion  of  opening  a  door  for  far,  very  far  greater 
good  even  to  our  fallen  race,  than  could,  otherwise,  ever 
been  known  or  enjoyed  by  man. 

BUT,  yet,  what  bitter  complaints  are,  often,  uttered 
by  men,  against  Adam.  But  thou,  who  judgest  another, 
doest  thou  the  same  things  thyself?  Do  you  judge  and 
condemn  Adam  for  disobeying  the  command  of  God, 
and  yet  live  in  constant  disobedience  yourself  ?  If  you 
have  one  wish  to  get  back  to  that  innocent  and  happy- 
state  our  first  parents  were  in  before  their  fall,  there  is 
a  way  open  to  you  to  be  immediately  in  a  state  far  pre- 
ferable to  that,  in  which  they  were  originally  placed. 
If  it  be  any  griet  and  pain  to  you,  that  they  introduced 
the  reign  of  sin  into  the  world  ;  the  second  Adam,  you 
may  remember,  has  introduced  the  reign  of  holiness, 
and  set  up  a  kingdom  of  righteousness  here  ;  and  he  in- 
vites you  to  come  and  join  him,  and  espouse  his  glori- 
ous cause  ;  at  the  same  time,  assuring  peace,  rest,  and 
protection  to  you,  if  you  will. 

INSTEAD,  therefore,  of  complaining  of  Adam,  and 
murmuring  that  things  have  been  so  ordered  and  dispo- 
sed, in  divine  providence,  that  sin  and  evil  have  taken 
place  ;  we  ought,  all,  to  unite  in  thankful  adorations  and 
praise  to  God,  that,  through  his  unsearchable  wisdom 
and  grace,  he  has  made  it  the  occasion  of  inconceivable 
good  to  the  human  race,  and  of  raising  men  to  far  high- 
C 


ei  degrees  oft  both  holiness  and  happiness,  than  would 
or  could  have  fallen  to  their  lot,  had  they  never  became 
fallen  creatures.  No  one  can  entertain  a  doubt  of  thif> 
•when  he  considers  how  much  more  is  seen  of  the  power, 
the  wisdom,  and  the  love  of  God,  in  the  great  work 
and  kingdom  ot  redemption,  than  could  have  been  seen 
by  man,  had  he  never  fallen.  And,  when  we  take  any 
proper  view  of  our  own  character,  we  cannot  but  be  sen- 
•  sible,  that  we  have  far  greater  experience  of  the  com- 
passion, the  love  and  goodness  of  God,  than  our  first 
parents  could  have  any  apprehension  of,  in  their  prime- 
val state — Add  to  this,  that  never  failing  and  infinite 
fountain  of  love,  now  open  to  us,  which  brought  God's 
only  begotten  Son  into  the  world,  and  to  the  cross,  for 
the  salvation  of  sinners,  of  enemies  ! 

OUR  opportunities  and  advantages — our  means  of  in- 
struction, and  of  knowing  and  enjoying  God — of  be- 
holding his  glory,  and  of  being  eternally  happy  in  his 
blessed  presence  and  favor,  very  far  exceed  those,  of  our 
first  parents  in  innocency,  if  we  had  but  hearts  and  dispo*- 
sitions  to  improve  them.  But,  instead  of  that,  we  our- 
selves neglect  to  improve  the  price  which  is  put  into  our 
hands,  and  abuse  far  greater  goodness  than  our  first  pa- 
rents did  ;  and  then,  excuse  ourselves  by  throwing  all 
the  blame  on  them.  How  unspeakably  more  becoming 
xvould  it  be  in  us,  to  repent  of  our  own  sins,  and  turn  to 
God  as  they  did — and,  are  now  enjoying  an  inconceiva- 
bly clearer  knowledge  of  God,  and  greater  blessedness 
in  him  and  nearness  to  him,  than  they  ever  could  have 
been  brought  to  by  virtue  of  the  covenant  originally 
proposed  to  them,  had  they  closed  with  it,  and  ever  so 
faithfully  kept  it.  But  you  will  say,  "  Shall  we,  then, 
u  bless  and  praise  God,  that  sin  and  evil  have  been 
"  brought  into  the  world,  and  still  so  greatly  reign  and 
"  prevail :"  I  answer,  No ;  these  are  not  the  objects, 
which  call  for  our  gratitude  and  praise  j  but,  God's  own 
infinitely  wise  and  wonderful  disposal,  and  his  boundless 
love,  in  making  these  the  occasion  of  unspeakably  great- 
er good  and  felicity  to  the  sinner. 

6.  EVERY  thing,  in  divine  providence,  concurs  to 
lead  us  to  acquiesce  in  it,  that  God  should  govern  hi? 


19 

world,  and  to  rejoice  that  he  actually  does,  aim 
forever  will  govern  it.  When  we  look  back  to  the  orig- 
inal creation,  and  observe  the  order,  the  several  stepSj, 
by  which  it  rose,  under  God's  forming  hand,  to  such  u 
state  of  perfection,  that  God  saw  all  to  be  very  good — 
When  we  view  that  wisdom,  which  is  so  conspicuous,  in 
adapting  every  thing  to  its  end,  and  so  peculiarly  form- 
ing and  fitting  it  to  the  use,  for  which  it  was  designed — 
And,  when  we  survey  the  beauty  and  uniformity  of  the 
whole,  and  reflect  upon  the  wonderful  preparation,  which 
was  made  for  the  comfort  and  good  of  man — When  we 
take  a  view  of  all  these  things,  how  can  we  but  break 
forth,  in  the  devout  and  joyful  strains  of  God's  pious  ser- 
vant, of  old,  Ps.  civ.  24.  "  O  LORD,  how  manifold 
"  are  thy  works  !  in  wisdom  hast  thou  made  them  all : 
"  the  earth  is  full  of  thy  riches."  But,  when  we  turn 
our  eye  and  thoughts  upon  the  still  brighter  scenes,, 
which  soon  began  to  open,  on  the  fall  ot  man  ;  and, 
which  will  be  opening  and  unfolding  more  and  more 
forever ;  how  can  we  help  being  struck  at  once  with  con- 
viction, that  no  one  can  be  so  fit  to  reign  as  the  Lord — 
That,  no  government  can  possibly  be  so  wise,  so  perfect 
as  his,  or  productive  of  so  much  felicity  and  good  to 
man  !  Godv  both  devises  and  executes  infinitely  better 
for  us,  than  we  could  possibly  do  for  ourselves  :  And  it  is 
.obviously  for  the  best,  and  infinitely  so,  that  all  creatures 
and  things  should  be  in  his  hand— all  events  depend  on 
his  will — and  all  be  at  his  disposal.  In  whatever  condition, 
we,  any  of  us,  find  ourselves,  or  however  exercised  and 
tried  respecting  our  own  particular  concerns  or  duty  j 
whenever  we  leave  all  with  God,  and  give  up  and  com- 
mit all  to  him,  we  find  things  ordered  -much  better  for 
us,  on  the  whole,  than  we  could  possibly  have  done  for 
ourselves.  Therefore  it  is  said,  Prov.  iii.  6.  "  In  all 
"  thy  ways  acknowledge  him,  and  he  shall  direct  thy 
"  paths."  No  one  ever  trusts  in  God,  in  vain.  Every 
one,  who  loves  God,  ami  submits  his  concerns  to  him, 
will  find,  on  reflection,  that  God  has  ordered  things  for 
him,  much  better  than  he  could  possibly  have  done  for 
himself — That,  had  he  had  his  own  way  and  choice,  it 
would  have  been  to  his  hurt — That  for  many  of  his  dis- 
appointments, he  has  reason  to  bless  God.  1  herefore, 
tlie  Apostle  directs,  to  cast  all  our  cares  upon  the  Lord5 


20 

because  he  etreth  for  us.  There  can  be  no  real  dangci 
to  any  of  us,  respecting  any  interest,  either  present  or 
future,  if  we  will  but  leave  all  with  the  infinitely  wist  and 
good  God.  What  matter  of  joy,  that  there  is  such  a 
God,  as  the  Lord  is— And,  that  he  does,  and  forever 
will  reign !  Well  might  the  prophet  express  himself  as 
he  does,  Isaiah  lii.  7,  10.  "  How  beautiful  upon  the 
"  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him  that  bringeth  good  ti- 
"  dings,  that  publisheth  peace  ;  that  bringeth  good  ti- 
"  dings  of  good,  that  publisheth  salvation,  that  saith  un- 
"  to  Zion,  Thy  God reigncth."  "  The  Lord  hath  made 
"  bare  his  holy  arm  in  the  eyes  of  ail  the  nations  ;  and 
"  all  the  ends  of  the  earth  shall  see  the  salvation  of  our 
44  God." 


SERMON  II. 


ON  THE  SERPENT'S  TEMPTATION  TO  OUR 
FIRST  PARENTS. 


GENESIS  III.  4,5. 

AND  THE  SERPENT  SAID  UNTO  THE  WOMAN,  YE 
SHALL  NOT  SURELY  DIE.  FOR  GOD  DOTH  KNOW, 
THAT  IN  THE  DAY  YE  EAT  THEREOF,  THEN  YOUR 
EYES  SHALL  BE  OPENED  ;  AND  YE  SHALL  BE  AS 
GODS  KNOWING  GOOD  AND  EVIL. 

WHEN  God,  the  creator  and  sovereign,  placed  our 
first  parents  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  he  gave  them  full 
liberty  to  eat  of  all  the  trees  in  it,  excepting  one,  which 
was  called  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  .*— 
Of  this,  they  were  forbidden  to  eat,  on  pain  of  death. 
This  was  the  test  of  iheir  obedience  :  If  they  did  not 
disobey,  they  were  to  live  forever :  If  they  did,  they 
were  to  die,  be  forever  shut  out  from  the  favour  of  God, 
and  be  eternally  wretched.  But  it  was  not  long  after 
they  were  placed  in  that  pleasant  gar r' en,  surrounded 
with  every  thing  necessary  for  their  comfort,  before 
their  peace  and  happiness  wrre  interrupted. — They 
were  assailed  by  a  subtile  adversary,  here  called  the  ser- 
pent. That  this  was  the  devil,  through  the  instrument- 
ality of  one  of  the  be?sts  of  the  field,  srems  to  be  evi- 
dent from  what  is  sai<3,  Rev.  xii.  9,  and  xx.  2.  "  And 
"  the  great  dragon  was  cast  out,  that  oLl  serpent,  call- 
"  ed  the  devil,  and  satan,  which  deceiveth  the  whole 
"  world.  And  he  laid  hold  on  the  dragon,  that  old 
"  serpent,  which  is  the  ckvil,  and  satan,  and  bound  him, 
*'  a  thousand  years."  He  is  here  probably,  stiled  the 
old  serpent,  because  it  was  the  same,  who  tempted  and 
deceived  our  first  parents.  He  seems  to  have  taken 
advantage  from  the  name  giver;  the  forbidden  tree,  to 
insinuate  his  temptation,  and  give  plausibility  to  his 


lie. — He  suggests  to  the  woman,  that,  instead  of  suffer- 
ing any  loss,  or  inconvenience  by  taking  of  the  forbid- 
den tree,  they  should  be  great  gainers — They  would 
immediately  find  their  eyes  opened,  their  minds  enlar- 
ged, and  their  natures  greatly  enobled.  They,  very 
foolishly  and  wickedly,  made  the  experiment.  They 
found  it  fatal  to  their  peace  and  comfort ;  anrl,  by  it, 
introduced  a  train  of  evils  and  miseries,  which  will  nev- 
er come  to  an  end. 

IN  treating  on  the  subject  before  us,  it  is  proposed, 

I.  To  inquire,   what  we  may  suppose  to  have  been 
the   reason,  why  the  fruit  of  this  tree  was  forbidden  to 
our  first  parents,  on  so  awful  a  penalty. 

II.  To  consider  the  nature  and  import  of  the  motive, 
which  prevailed  on  them  to  disobey,  Tc  shall  be  as  gods 
knowing  good  and  evil. 

I.  IT  is  to  be  inquired,  what  we  may  suppose  to  hare 
'been  the  reason,  why  the  iruit  of  this  tree  was  forbid- 
den to  our  first  parents,  on  so  awful  a  penalty,  "  In  the 
"  day  thou  eatesi  .thereof,  thou  shalt  surely  die." 

IT  is  no  more  than  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  moral 
creatures,  the  subjects  of  God's  moral  government, 
should,  all,  go  through  a  state  of  trial  or  probation  ;  in 
order  that  it  may  appear,  previously  to  their  being  estab- 
lished in  holiness  and  happiness,  that  they  deliberately 
and  undcrstandingly  choose  the  service  of  God  at  all 
hazards,  submitting  their  wills,  in  all  things,  to  his  wise 
and  holy  will.  By  this,  it  becomes  more  manifest,  that 
God  treats  them  as  moral  agents — beings,  who  are  to 
choose  and  act  for  themselves  ;  and,  that  their  final  fate 
is  suspendejl  on  themselves,  and  on  their  own  free  choice 
made  in  the  view  of  motives  fit  to  influence  intelligent 
agents.  In  this  way  it  is  rendered  visible,  that  the  love 
and  service  of  God  are  understandingly  chosen  and  pre- 
ferred :  And,  that  the  consequent  blessings  and  good, 
bestowed  upon  them,  are  expressions  of  God's  well- 
pleasedness  with  them  for  the  wise  choice  they  have 
made.  In  this  way,  too,  God  shews  himself  to  be  a 


23 

rewarder  of  righteousness.  Moral  creatures  are  here- 
by taught  the  nature  of  God's  IE<  ral  g»  veinrcent ;  and, 
prepared  to  see  the  propriety  of  his  executing  punish- 
ments, as  well  as  bestowing  rewards.  The  holy  God 
would  not  so  visibly  appear  to  be  a  rewarder,  \vere  the 
subjects  of  his  moral  government  never  in  a  probationa- 
ry state :  Nor  would  it  appear,  that,  God,  who  ever 
judges  righteous  judgment,  considers  and  treats  us  as 
moral,  rational  agents,  capable  of  judging  and  choosing 
and  acting  lor  ourselves  ;  and  this,  in  such  a  sense,  and 
to  such  a  degree,  as  that  our  future  state*  and  destiny 
are  decided,  (though  riot  independently  of  God,)  by  our- 
selves, and  result  from  our  own  free  and  voluntary 
choice.  Accordingly,  there  is  every  reason  to  suppose, 
that  the  Angels  were  originally  in  a  state  of  probation  : 
For  we  read,  Jude,  6,  of  "  angels  which  kept  not  their 
"  first  estate,  but  left  their  own  habitation." 

GOD  formed  this  world  for  man,  and  furnished  it 
with  every  thing  necessary  for  his  use  and  comfort. 
But  when  he  created  Adam,  and  placed  him  on  it,  he 
neither  made  him  the  sole  proprietor  ot  it,  nor  gave  it 
him  without  conditions.  The  garden,  in  which  Adam 
was  placed,  was  God's  vineyard  ;  and,  he  took  the  man, 
and  put  him  into  it,  to  dress  it,  and  to  keep  it.— His  duty 
and  his  business  were  assigned  him,  and  he  was  under 
every  obligation  to  comply  with  what  God  required.  It 
was  altogether  fit,  that  he 'should  know,  and  forever  keep 
in  mind,  that  God,  the  Creator,  was  the  supreme  and 
sole  owner  of  the  world,  and  the  rightful  disposer  of  it — 
That  he,  himself,  was  wholly  indebted  to  God  for  it,  and 
for  all  the  right  he  had  in  it — That  he  held  it  under  God, 
and  was,  as  it  were,  to  pay  fealty  to  God  for  it  ;  ever 
feeling  and  acknowledging  Him  to  be  the  Lord,  the  pro- 
prietor, and  the  owner  of  it.  Hence,  he  must  be  sensi- 
ble, that  he  was  bound  to  use  and  improve  the  world, 
not  for  himself  and  his  own  private  pleasure,  but  for  God 
and  his  glory  ;  and,  as  he  directed  him.  The  prohibi- 
tion of  one  tree,  in  the  garden,  was  evidently  designed, 
as  well  as,  every  way,  fitted  continually  to  remind  Adam 
of  all  this — of  the  conditions  on  which  he  \vas  to  enjoy 
the  world,  and  the  favor  ot  God  with  it.  And  this  pro- 
hibition was  directly  calculated  to  preserve  a  convict -or? , 


24 

perpetually,  on  his  mind,  that,  not  he,  but  God,  the  Ma- 
ker, was  the  Lord,  the  owner,  and  the  sovereign  of  the 
world ;  and,  that  he,  himself,  held  under  God,  and  was 
ever  to  acknowledge  God  to  be  the  giver. 

ON  such  conditions,  and  on  such  only,  was  Adam  to 
enjoy  the  world,  and  the  perpetual  favor  of  God  with  it. 
On  these  conditions  he  was  to  enjoy  life,  in  the  image 
and  favor  of  God  :  And,  on  the  same  conditions  to  be 
blessed  with  a  posterity,  like  himself  happy  in  innocence, 
and  in  the  enjoyment  of  God.  Adam's  taking  of  the 
forbidden  tree  carried  in  it  a  refusal  of  the  world  on  the 
most  reasonable  terms,  on  which  God  proposed  to  him 
to  take  it  and  have  dominion  over  all  creatures  and 
things  on  it.  The  language  of  his  conduct  was,  that  he 
would  not  take  the  world  and  reign  over  the  lower  order 
of  creatures,  which  were  in  it,  on  such  conditions— That 
he  would  not  consent  to  hold  it  under  God — That  he 
would  have  it  for  his  own,  and  use  it  for  his  own  plea- 
sure— or,  not  at  all.  Thus  he  wickedly  rebelled  against 
God,  his  Creator  and  rightful  sovereign ;  and,  hereby 
brought  death  and  ruin  on  himself,  and  entailed  them  on 
all  his  posterity. 

II.  WE  majf,  now,  enquire  into  the  nature  and  im- 
port of  the  motive,  by  which  our  first  parents  were  pre- 
vailed on  to  disobey,  ye  shall  be  as  gods  knoivmg  good 
and  evil.  The  tree  which  bore  the  fruit  forbiddt  n  to 
Adam,  was  called,  "  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and 
"  evil,"  Gen.  ii.  9,  17.  Probably,  it  was  so  called,  be- 
cause such  great  events  depended  on  the  conduct  of  our 
first  parents  relative  to  it ;  and  such  vast  consequences, 
and  of  such  immense  extent,  were  to  follow  on,  either 
their  odedience  or  disobedience  to  the  divine  injunction. 
Their  own  future  and  eternal  destiny  were  here  at  stake, 
together  with  that  of  their  innumerable  posterity — All 
was  suspended  on  their  strict  and  punctual  observance 
of  the  divine  command.  On  this  depended  their  own 
future  good  or  evil — their  endless  happiness  or1  misery. 
By  this  it  was  to  be  decided,  whether  they  were  forever 
to  know  and  enjoy  the  good  of  that  favor  of  God,  which  is 
as  life — that  loving  kindness  of  his,  which  is  better  than 
life  :  or,  whether  they  were  to  know  and  experience  thr 


awful  evil  of  being  the  objects  of  his  eternal  displeasure 
and  abhorrence.  All  the  endless  happiness  or  misery, 
both  of  our  first  parents  themselves,  and  of  a  postsrity 
which  was  to  fill  the  earth,  were  suspended  on  their  con- 
duct relative  to  this  one  tree.  Well  might  it  be  termed, 
44  The  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil."  What 
mere  creature  ever  had  such  a  stake  put  into  his  hand  ! 
Consequences  so  vast  and  immeasurable  suspended  on  his 
conduct !  The  obedience  of"  our  first  parents  to  the  most 
reasonable  command  of  God  respecting  this  tree,  would, 
by  divine  constitution,  have  secured  to  them,  and  to  the 
innumerable  offspring,  which  was  to  proceed  from, 
them,  uninterrupted  peace,  prosperity  and  good — Their 
disobe  .ience  involve  them  and  all  their  posterity  in  ut- 
ter ruin  and  endless  evil  ! 

THE  motive,  which  the  tempter  presented  to  our  first 
parents  to  venture  on  the  forbidden  fruit,  the  event  pro- 
ved was  effectual.  Under  the  influence  of  the  serpent's 
suggestion,  it  must  have  been,  that  they  expected  an  in- 
crease of  happiness,  instead  of  that  of  sorrow  and  evil, 
which  were  the  just  consequences  of  their  wicked  te- 
merity. When  the  adversary  said  to  the  woman,  **  For 
"  God  doth  know,  that  in  the  day  ye  cat  thereof,  then 
"  your  eyes  shall  be  opened  ;  and  ye  shall  be  as  gods 
"  knowing  good  and  evil"  it  canriot  be  supposed,  that  he 
meant  to  excite  in  her  an  expectation,  that  an  experi- 
mental knowledge  of  evil  would  be  the  consequence  of 
her  eating  ;  or,  that  the  suggestion  had  this  effect.  To 
be  as  gods  knowing  good  arid  evil,  could  hot  be  under- 
stood to  imply,  that  evil  should  be  known  by  experience  : 
In  this  sense,  God  himself  does  not  know  evil^  nor  ever 
will.  Our  first  parents  did  know  evil,  to  their  sorrow, 
on  disobeying  the  voice  of  God.  But  to  suppose,  either 
that  the  serpent  meant  to  suggest,  or  that  any  such  idea 
was  suggested,  must  imply  that  the  subtile  tempter  was, 
at  the  same  time  adding  his  own  influence  to  that  of  the 
divine  prohibition,  "  in  the  day  ye  eat  thereof,  ye  shall 
44  surely  die,"  and  taking  the  most  direct  method  to  de- 
feat his  own  malicious  design. 

WHEN  the  tempter  said  to  the  woman,  "  Ye  shall  be 
*  as  %Qds  knowing  good  and  evil,"  he  must  have  meant, 
D 


dhat,  on  her  taking  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree,  she  should  r.e 
advanced  to  some  dignity,  and  the  enjoyment  of  some 
privilege,  from  which  she  was  restrained  by  the  prohi- 
bition. In  this  sensey  GOD  knows  good  and  evil,  that 
he  perfectly  knows  what  is  fit  and  right,  and  what  is  oth- 
erwise, God  most  perfectly  knows  and  understands 
the  nature  of  both  good,  and  evil — what  is  right,  and 
what  is  wrong.  God  most  perfectly  knows  vrhat  be- 
longs to  Him — what  his  rights  are — and  what  it  is  fit 
He  should  do.  He  knows  what  ends  are  worthy  of  him- 
self, and,  how  to  accomplish  them — what  creatures  to 
make,  and  how  to  conduct  towards  them  and  govern 
them. — In  short,  he  perfectly  knows  what  belongs  to> 
him,  and  how  to  manage  his  own  affairs,  and  the  affairs 
of  his  whole  kingdom.  What  the  serpent  would  sug- 
gest to  our  first  parents,  probably  was,  that  on  their  eat- 
ing the  fruit,  which  was  forbidden  them  of  God,  their 
eyes  should  be  immediately  opened  to  see,  that,  they 
themselves  were  competent  to  judge  of  their  own  ac- 
tions— to  determine  what  belonged  to  them,  what  their 
own  proper  rights  were,  and  what  it  was  fit  that  they 
should  do — That,  as  God  knew  what  belonged  to  hinx, 
so  they,  also,  should  know  -what  belonged  to  them — 
Their  own  powers  were  as  really  adequate  to  their  du- 
ty and  their  necessities,  as  God's  are  to  his.  The  de- 
ceiver would  insinuate,  that  God  meant  to  cramp  the  no- 
ble powers  of  their  minds,  by  treating  them  as  though 
they  knew  nothing — were  not  qualified  to  judge  what 
would  become  them,  what  it  was  fit  for  them  to  do,  and 
what  their  own  native  rights  really  were — He  treated 
them  in  the  prohibition,  like  weak  and  ignorant  crea- 
tures, incapable  of  knowing,  either  their  duty,  or  their 
interest,  any  further  than  He  immediately  revealed  it  to 
them — That  the  situation  in  which  they  were  placed, 
was  degrading— That  the  forbidden  tree'ought  as  really 
to  belong  to  them,  as  any  of  the  rest :  And,  therefore^ 
that  the  denial  of  it  to  them  held  them  in  a  state  of  sub- 
jection and  vassallage  unworthy  the  dignity  of  the  ra- 
tional natures  and  the  noble  powers  they  possessed. 

THIS  false  and  wicked  insinuation  was  too  fatally  suc- 
cessful. On  this,  that  pride,  which  has  ever  since  had 
possession  of  the  human  heart,  sprung  up  and  took  fire  .- 


s  it  is  said  in  the  next  succeeding  verses,  "  when 
•"  the  woman  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for  food,  and 
"  that  it  was  pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be  desi- 
**  red  to  make  one  wise  ;  she  took  of  the  fruit  thereof 
*'  and  did  eat :  and  gave  also  unto  her  husband  with  her, 
"  and  he  did  eat/7  Thus  our  first  parents  flung  off 
subjection  to  God,  their  Creator  and  rightful  sovereign. 
They  challenged  to  themselves  rights  and  prerogatives, 
which  were  infinitely  far  from  belonging  to  them — prac- 
tically denying  God's  right  to  restrain  and  govern  them. 
Unhappy  creatures  !  Soon  were  they  convinced  of  their 
fatal  error  and  folly.  An  error,  which  would  have  been 
eternally  fatal  to  their  own  peace  and  good,  and  in  its 
consequences,  to  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  an  al- 
most innumerable  offspring,  had  not  sovereign,  and  infi- 
nite mercy  interposed.  That  luminous  body — an  em- 
blem of  their  internal  purity  and  innocence,  in  which, 
they  probably  shone,  immediately  left  them  ;  and  find- 
ing themselves  naked,  for  the  first  time  felt  a  sense  of 
shame.  Fear  presently  seized  their  guilty  breasts,  and 
they  sought  to  hide  themselves  amongst  the  trees  of  the 
garden.  Had  not  sovereign  and  infinite  power  and 
grace  interposed,  how  sorely  indeed  must  they  have 
smarted  for  listening  to  the  temptation  of  him,  who  is  a 
liar,  has  been  so  from  the  beginning,  and  is  the  father 
of  it. 

THE  observations,  we  have  now  made  on  the  subject9 
inay  prepare  the  way  for  the  following 

REMARKS. 

1.  How  sin  and  evil  were  introduced  into  our  world, 
would  have  been  an  entire  secret  to  us,  had  we  been  fa- 
vored with  no  special  revelation  from  heaven.  That 
they  have,  in  fact,  entered,  and  prevailed  to  a  very  great 
degree,  mankind  ever  have  had*  and  still  have  melancho- 
ly proof  by  their  own  constant  experience  and  observa- 
tion. But  whether  our  nature  was  originally  so  awful- 
ly corrupt  and  depraved,  or  how  it  came  to  pass,  that  it 
is  so  now,  never  would  have  been  known,  at  least,  in  the 
present  age  of  the  world,  had  not  God  been  graciously 
pleased  to  give  us,  by  an  immediate  revelation,  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  original  state  of  man — what  was  the  trial  of 


28 

his  obedience-— and  wherein  his  fall  and  rebellion  con- 
sisted. This,  too,  gives  us  much  instruction  respecting 
our  present  duty,  and  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  sub- 
mission we  owe  the  Great  God,  our  creator.  Nor,  with- 
out a  divine  revelation,  should  we  ever  have  known  the 
penalty  of  transgression,  and  the  evil,  to  which  we  ex- 
pose ourselves  by  disobedience.  Nor,  yet  further, 
should  we  ever  have  known,  what  right  we  have  to  the 
world  and  the  things  of  it,  and  what  and  how  far  we 
may  make  use  of  them — What  use  of  them  may  be  ac- 
ceptable to  God,  who,  reason  proclaims,  must  be  the 
sole  proprietor  of  all — and  what  would  be  unlawful  in 
his  sight,  and  expose  us  to  his  displeasure.  The  knowl- 
edge of  these  things  must  be  of  very  great  importance 
to  us  ;  seeing  our  eternal  state  is  depending.  But,  in 
what  extreme  uncertainty  must  we  have  been  involved — r 
in  what  great  darkness  must  we  have  groped,  in  all  our 
inquiries  respecting  these  things,  had  it  not  been  that  we 
are  favored  with  a  special  revelation  from  Heaven. 
Who,  that  is  concerned  to  know  and  do  his  duty,  and 
to  use  the  world  as  not  abusing  it,  but  what  will  highly 
prize  this  divine  revelation  !  How  thankful  ought  we,  all, 
to  be  to  God  for  it,  and  how  faithfully  and  constantly  take 
it  for  our  guide  ! 

2.  WE  may  be  led  to  see  how  it  comes  to  pass,  that 
the  sin  and  ruin  of  the  whole  posterity  follow  the  sin  and 
fall  of  the  first  parents  of  our  race.  For  God  to  suspend 
the  good  and  happiness  of  their  posterity  on  the  conduct 
of  the  original  pair,  must  have  furnished  strong  and  for- 
cible motives  to  them  strictly  to  obey  God.  If  such  a 
constitution  were  originally  just  and  wise,  the  effects  of 
its  operation  must,  also,  be  so.  And,  for  God  to  give  to 
them  a  posterity  destitute,  both  of  his  image,  and  of  his 
favor,  would  be  but  a  just  testimony  ot  his  displeasure 
against  them  for  their  wicke>.  ntss  in  disobeying  him. 
This,  to  the  first  parents,  was  a  penal  consequence  of 
their  sin  and  fall.  They  could  not  but  have  felt  it  to  be 
a  very  sore  evil  ;  and,  such  an  one  as  was  peculiarly  fit- 
ted to  excite,  in  them,  a  conviction  of  their  extreme  fol- 
ly and  wickedness,  and  impress  and  preserve  it  continu- 
ally on  their  minds. 


FOR  God  thus  to  visit  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers  on 
their  children,  is  one  important  way  wherein  we  are 
taught  the  destructive  nature  and  tendency  of  sin.  It 
gives  us  to  see,  that  there  is  no  end  to  the  evil  conse- 
quences which  follow  rebellion  against  God,  unless  re- 
strained and  prevented  by  his  mighty  power  and  grace. 
And,  probably,  one  reason  why  God  established  the  con~ 
nexion,  in  moral  things,  which  subsisted  between  our 
first  parents  and  their  posterity,  was  to  assist  us  in  form- 
ing apprehensions  of  the  vast  and  unknown  extent  of  the 
evil  of  sin — That  we  may  see,  to  use  a  scripture  expres- 
sion, that  it-will  eat  as  doth  a  canker  or  gangrene,  and  pro- 
duce universal  evil  and  ruin,  unless  restrained,  and  its 
consequences  arrested  by  divine  and  almighty  power. 

THAT  there  should  be  a  connexion,  between  parents 
and  children,  in  moral  things,  furnishes  strong  motives 
to  parental  duty  and  constant,  careful  obedience  to  God. 
Nor  can  it  be  unkind  in  the  Great  Parent  of  all,  that 
the  connexion,  originally  established  between  our  first 
parents  and  their  offspring,  should  be  still  continued.  Pa» 
rents  know  the  anxiety  they  feel  for  their  children,  and 
the  pain  and  anguish  they  suffer  from  the  ill  conduct,  and 
the  wretchedness  of  their  offspring.  They  ought,  there- 
fore, ever  to  remember,  and  constantly  keep  it  in  view, 
that  the  original  constitution  of  a  connexion,  in  moral 
things,  between  parents  and  children,  has  not  been  done 
away  by  the  fall ;  but  is  still  preserved  and  in  operation  ; 
and,  will  be  transmitted,  from  parent  to  child,  through 
every  successive  generation,  to  the  end  of  time  ;  and  its 
consequences  be  experienced  ana  felt  to  eternity. 

WHEN  parents  look  on  the  dear  offspring  cf  their  own 
bowels,  and  consider  the  evils  they  do,  or  may  suffer  in 
this  life,  and  the  far  greater  evils  they  are  exposed  to 
in  the  next ;  they  have  no  right  to  excuse  themselves 
from  being  the  blameable  cause  of  the  lost  and  ruined 
state  of  their  children,  by  laying  it  to  Adam,  that  he  has 
wickedly  introduced  such  an  endless  train  of  evils.  God 
visits  the  iniquities  of  parents  on  children,  for  the  same 
reason  now,  that  he  originally  visited  the  iniquities  of 
the  first  parents  on  their  immediate  offspring.  Parents 
now  have  wicked  children,  for  the  same  reason  that  the 


30 

first  sinful  parent  had  wicked  children.  And  when  pa- 
rents see,  either  the  wickedness,  or  sufferings  of  their 
children,  and  undergo  the  pain  and  sorrow  they  must  oc- 
casion ;  let  it  bring  their  own  wickedness  into  view; 
and,  impress  it,  more  and  more,  upon  them,  that  it  is  an 
evil  and  a  bitter  thing  to  sin  against  God  :  For,  had  they 
never  offended  and  been  guilty,  it  cannot  reasonably  be 
supposed,  that  the  infinitely  just  and  good  God,  who 
never  inflicts  pain  but  in  testimony  of  his  righteous  dis- 
pleasure, would  ever  have  given  them  the  distress  and 
anguish  of  seeing  the  vileness  and  wretchedness  of  those, 
who  are  dear  to  them  as  their  own  souk.  Let  us  bless 
God  for  kindly  giving  us  to  understand  the  ground  of 
his  dealings  with  us  ;  and,  remember  how  readily  it  may 
be  seen,  that  his  constitution  is  wise  and  good. 

3.  WE  may  very  easily  see  how,  all  of  us,  exercise 
and  are  continually  acting  out  the  very  disposition  and 
temper,  our  first  parents  did,  in  taking  and  eating  of  the 
forbidden  fruit.  The  language  of  God's  prohibiting  this 
tree  on  pain  of  death,  was,  "  You  are  to  feel,  that  you 
«'  hold  the  world,  and  all  that  you  have  in  it,  under  Me 
"  —That  it  is  not  your  own — That  I  am  the  sole  owner, 
44  lord  and  proprietor  of  it — And,  that  you  are  to  use  it 
11  as  I  direct,  in  my  service,  and  for  my  glory.''  The 
language  of  their  taking  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  was, 
44  We  do  not  wish  for  the  world  on  such  terms  as  these 
n  — \\re  do  not  desire  it,  unless  we  may  have  it  and  use 
"  it  for  our  own  pleasure  and  comfort — We  cannot  en- 
"  dure  such  restrictions."  How  manifest  is  it,  that  this 
very  disposition  has  been  transmitted  from  the  first,  and 
from  every  succeeding  parent,  to  their  offspring,  through 
every  generation  to  the  present  day  ;  and,  reigns,  to  an 
awful  degree,  in  the  hearts  of  all  !  Are  not  these  now 
the  feelings  of  men,  44  What  we  obtain  by  our  own  in- 
"  dustry  and  application,  is  our  own  ;  and  we  mean  to 
"  use  it  for  our  comfort  and  pleasure.  We  cannot  bt 
44  content  with  those  restrictions,  which  are  necessari- 
44  ly  implied  in  our  being  willing  to  receive  our  daily 
4t  bread  from  God,  and  being  dependant  on  him  for  it." 
How  little  do  we  consider  the  nature  of  that  tenure,  on 
whkh  we  now  hold  the  world-— That  we  are  mere  ten- 
ant? at  will — That  we  have  nothing,  but  what  is  knt  to  us 


by  the  great  and  only  proprietor,  to  be  taken  away  at  his 
pleasure.  Had  our  first  parents  persevered  in  innocency 
during  the  proposed  time  of  their  trial,  thty  would  have 
ha-.i,  by  covenant,  a  perpetual  right  to  the  world,  and  to 
the  full  and  free  use  oi  it  on  those  terms,  on  which  it  was 
offered  them.  But  this  right  has  been  forfeited,  and 
never  will  be  restored.  Since  the  fall  of  our  first  parents, 
roan  has  no  right  whatever  to  the  world,  or  to  any  of  its 
good  things,  but  what  comes  by  Christ,  and  is  derived 
from  him.  To  godliness,  He  has  annexed  the  gracious 
promise  of  this  life,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come.  But 
in  what  latitude  this  promise  is  to  be  taken,  we  learn 
from  what  Christ  says  to  Peter,  Mark,  x.  29,  30.  "  Ve- 
w  rily,  I  say  unto  you,  there  is  no  man  hath  left  house, 
"  or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife, 
u  or  children,  or  lands,  for  my  sake,  and  the  gospel's, 
"  But  he  shall  receive  an  hundred  fold  now  in  this  time, 
"  houses,  and  brethren,  and  sisters,  and  mothers,  and 
"  children,  and  lands,  -with  persecutions  ;  and  in  the 
u  world  to  come,  eternal  life." 

IF  men  felt,  in  any  measure  as  they  ought,  their  ac« 
countableness  to  God  for  the  use  they  make  of  every 
worldly  enjoyment  they  have — If  they  felt  that,  on  their 
peril,  and  an  awful  one  too,  they  must  use  the  world,  all 
that  they  have  of  it,  and  every  thing  they  have  in  it, 
just  as  God  directs  in  his  holy  word,  without  the  least 
murmuring  or  complaint — to  feed  the  hungry — to  clothe 
the  naked— to  relieve  the  distressed  ;  in  short,  to  serve 
Christ,  promote  his  glorious  cause,  the  comfort  of  his 
people,  and  the  good  of  souls. — If  they  considered  that 
they  were  forbidden  to  love  the  world,  and  the  things 
of  it,  or  to  use  one  of  its  good  things  to  feed  their  lusts; 
but,  required  that,  whether  they  eat,  or  drink,  or  what- 
ever they  do,  to  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God  ;  remember- 
ing continually  the  solemn  account,  they  are  liable,  eve- 
ry moment,  to  be  called  to  give  unto  the  Great  God,  for 
every  article  they  have  ever  had — If  men  felt  all  this 
now,  which  in  fact,  they  are  under  all  possible  obligation 
to  feel,  would  it  not  exceedingly  check  their  .ardor  in 
the  pursuit  of  the  world  and  its  pleasures  ?  If  we  reflect- 
ed, that,  such  has  been  our  abuse  of  the  world  and  the 
things  of  it,  that,  without  an  interest  in  Christ,  by  faith 


^-without  being,  by  him,  crucified  to  the  world,  and  the 
world,  to  us,  we  infallibly  fall  under  the  just  and  awful 
displeasure  of  God  ;  would  not  our  minds  greatly  sicken 
to  the  things  of  time  and  sense  ?  Is  it  not  very  mani- 
fest, from  the  feelings,  which  men,  by  nature,  universal- 
ly have  toward  the  world,  and  the  things  of  it,  that  the 
same  old  serpent,  the  devil,  who  tempted  our  first  pa- 
rents, and  gained  possession  of  their  hearts,  is  now  in 
men,  deluding  them,  and  leading  them  off  from  God  ? — 
Let  all  know  and  realize  it,  that,  unless  they  have  been 
raised  from  spiritual  death,  to  spiritual  life,  by  the  pow- 
er of  sovereign  grace,  they  are  as  much  under  the  power 
of  satan,  as  our  first  parents  were,  when  they  took  and 
ate  the  forbidden  fruit :  And,  they  are  continually  com- 
mitting and  practising  the  very  crime,  for  which  man 
was  originally  driven  from  the  ancient  paradise  ;  and 
persisting  in  it,  too,  against  all  the  remonstrances  of  the 
word  of  God.  With  little  reason — wilh  little  face  in- 
deed, can  we  excuse  ourselves  by  laying  it  to  our  first 
parents,  that  we  are  subjected  to  evils  and  sufferings 
here  ;  and,  exposed  to  far  greater  and  more  awful  ones 
hereafter.  Let  us  look  at  home,  and  then  our  mouths 
must  be  shut  against  any  complaints  of  them.  But, 

4.  WE  may  notice  another  respect,  wherein  the  orig- 
inal temptation,  Te  shall  be  as  gods  knowing  good  and 
evil*  has  its  influence  at  the  present  day,  and  operates,  on 
the  minds  of  men,  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same 
degree,  that  it  did,  on  those,  who  were  originally  seduced 
by  it. 

WE  have,  before,  observed,  that  the  purport  of  the 
great  deceiver's  insinuation  was,  that,  instead  of  any  ill 
consequence  resulting  from  their  eating  of  the  forbid- 
den fruit,  their  eyes  should  at  once  be  opened  to  see,  that 
they  possessed  powers  of  their  own  quite  suffiicent  to 
guide  and  direct — to  point  out  their  duty  and  their  inter- 
est— to  discern  between  right  and  wrong,  and  decide, 
for  themselves,  what  was  fit  and  becoming,  in  their 
place  and  station,  and  what  was  not.  As  the  great  book 
of  nature  was  open  before  their  eyes,  the  noble  powers 
of  their  minds  were  such,  that  they  needed  no  other 
means  of  instruction — They  had  reason  and  understand  - 


S3 

ing,  and  stood  in  need  of  no  other  guide — Follow  rea- 
son, and  attend  carefully  to  its  dictates,  an- 1  they  could 
not  mistake  the  path  of,  tither  duty,  or  interest.  This 
Seemed  to  be  the  flattering  bait  laid  before  our  first  pa- 
rents. And  how  many  of  their  descendants  have,  ever 
since,  been  taken  with  it  ;  and,  are  so,  even  at  the  pres- 
ent day  !  Is  it  not  obvious,  that,  such  like  considerations 
are,  very  frequently,  Urged,  at  the  present  day,  to  excite 
and  persuade  men  to  place  such  implicit  confioer.ee  in 
their  reason,  as  to  render  any  other  guide  unnecessary? 
How  much  is  said  of  the  sufficiency  of  reason,  and  how 
highly  do  many  extol  it !  What  boasts  are  made  of  the 
noble  powers  of  the  human  mind  !  And  all  with  a  view 
to  bring  men  to  feel  themselves  above  the  need  of  any 
special  instructions  from  on  high  !  To  tie  them  down  to 
the  belief  of  every  thing  contained  in  the  book,  which 
claims  to  be  a  revelation  from  heaven,  and,  in  matters 
of  religion,  to  confine  them  to  this,  they  represent  as 
tending  only  to  fetter  the  mind,  and  cramp  free  inquiry. 
Was  not  this  the  very  spirit  and  essence  of  satan's  temp- 
tation ?  And,  when  we  see  the  effect,  which  such  insinu- 
ations have  on  men,  the  descendants  of  those,  who  were 
first  seduced  and  betrayed  by  them,  can  there  be  any 
reason  to  doubt  their  coming  from  that  same  old  ser- 
pent, who,  the  Scriptures  teach  us,  is  the  spirit  that  now 
worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience  ?  There  are 
many,  also,  among  us,  at  the  present  day,  who,  though 
they  do  not  openly  reject  divine  revelation,  but  profess 
to  be  advoc  Ues  for  it,  yet  bring  every  doctrine  of  it  to 
the  test  of  their  own  depraved  reason — who  admit  noth- 
ing as  coming  from  God,  bat  what  their  own  wisdom, 
approves — but  what  they  judge  to  he  wise  and  best — 
worthy  of  God,  and  fit  to  be  received  and  relied  on  by 
men.  However  plainly  any  doctrine  or  sentiment  may 
be  contained  and  expressed,  in  the  holy  Scriptures,  if  it 
be  above  the  comprehension  of  their  own  reason,  or  not 
correspondent  with  its  dictates,  they,  either  openly  re- 
ject, or,  in  effect,  explain  all  away.  Accordingly,  though 
they  admit  some  things,  contained  in  the  holy  Scriptures, 
to  be  true,  they  reject  others  : — And  really,  as  xar  as 
they  profess  any  religion,  profess  one  of  their  own  de- 
vising ;  not  one,  which  ever  came  from  God,  or  will 


34 

lead  back  to  him — A  religion  better  suited  to  their  own 
taste,  than  that  contained  in  the  oracles  of  God. 

BUT  would  we  be  humble,  and  feel,  as  the  Great 
Teacher,  who  came  from  God  represents  to  be  the  truth, 
that  we  are  poor  and  wretched,  miserable  and  blind  and 
naked  ;  many  doctrines  of  divine  revelation,  which  are 
spurned  by  the  proud  reason  of  men,  would  evidently  ap- 
pear to  wear  a  divine  impression — be  seen  to  be  worthy 
of  God,  and  suited  to  our  necessities  and  condition  :  And 
we  should  feel  our  obligations  thankfully  to  receive 
them,  and  cordially  to  bow  to  their  authority* 

5.  How  manifestly  does  it  become  us  to  take  warning 
from  the  fate  and  folly  of  our  first  parents,  and  be  per- 
petually on  our  guard  against  such  like  reasonings  and 
temptations  as  those,  by  which  they  were  seduced  and 
betrayed.  They,  when  they  heard  the  voice  of  the 
Lord  God  walking  in  the  garden,  were  afraid.  They 
trembled,  and  attempted  to  hide  themselves ;  but, 
all  in  vain.  GOD,  their  maker,  their  sovereign 
and  their  judge,  came  to  call  them  to  an  account 
for  what  they  had  done.  How  poor  and  miserable  were 
their  excuses  !  How  little  reliance  had  they,  themselves, 
then  upon  them !  So  far  was  the  holy  God  from  paying 
any  regard  to  their  excuses,  that  he  immediately  pro- 
ceeded, though  not  to  pass  their  final  sentence  ;  yet  such 
an  one  as  deeply  affected  them,  and  reached  to  all  their 
posterity  —-as  men,  in  every  age,  and  at  the  present  day, 
are  taught  by  sad  experience.  Ought  we  not,  all,  to  be 
taught,  by  this  experience,  the  folly  and  danger  of  listen- 
ing to  temptations,  which  have  subjected  us  to  so  many 
evils  ?  These  evils  afford  a  striking  admonition  to  us  to 
beware  of  the  snare,  in  which  our  progenitors  were 
caught :  And,  yet,  how  many,  and  how  often  are  men 
taken  in  it !  We,  too,  must  soon  be  called  to  account,  by 
the  holy  and  sovereign  Judge  of  all :— An  account,  too, 
far  more  solemn  and  awful  than  that,  to  which  our  first 
parents  were  called,  in  the  garden.  How  will  such  as 
have  followed  no  guide  but  their  own  reason — who 
have  none  of  that  wisdom,  which  is  from  above — who 
are  strangers  to  the  consolations  of  faith  in  the  doc- 


35 

trines  of  the  glorious  gospel—How  will  they  then  fiear 
and  tremble,  and  attempt  to  hide  themselves  !  When 
they  hear  the  voice  of  God  in  the  approach  of  death— 
vrhen  they  see  they  must  meet  that  king  of  terrors  j  un- 
less awfully  stupified,  how  will  their  courage  fail,  and 
their  vain  hopes  vanish !  Will  they  then  think  of  mea- 
suring their  reason  with  that  of  the  eternal  God.  In- 
stead of  this,  they  will  attempt,  but  ail  in  vain,  to  hide 
themselves  from  his  awful  presence  :  For,  appear  be- 
fore him  they  must.  Then,  if  not  before,  they  will 
immediately  see,  how  unspeakably  far  their  own  proud 
reason  has  been  from  being  a  safe  and  sufficient  guide. 
Then,  however  they  may  consider  the  gospel  as  fool- 
ishness, they  will  be  convinced,  that  the  foolishness  of 
God  is  wiser  than  men.  Let  us,  all,  remember  how 
exceedingly  sweet  and  supporting  will  be  the  balm  of 
the  Christian  hope,  at  the  trying  and  solemn  hour  of 
which  we  are  speaking.  Without  this  hope,  what  hor- 
ror will  seize  on  us  and  overwhelm  us  !  How  bitterly 
shall  we  lament,  that  we  have  placed  such  confidence  in 
the  strength  and  powers  of  our  own  minds  !  When  God 
stains  the  pride  of  all  human  glory,  how  will  proud 
boasters  find,  that  their  own  strength  was  but  weakness, 
and  their  wisdom,  folly.  How  will  they  curse  the  great 
deceiver,  and  themselves,  for  being  deceived  and  delu- 
ded by  him  ! 

6.  \VE  may  learn,  from  what  has  been  said  on  the 
subject,  what  the  temper  and  feelings  are,  toward  the 
world  and  the  things  of  it,  to  which  true  and  real  relig- 
ion will  form  and  bring  men  back.  One  tree  in  the  gar- 
den was  forbidden,  to  remind  man  of  his  constant  de- 
pendance  on  God,  and  that  the  world  was  not  his — That 
God  the  Creator  was  the  sole  lord  and  proprietor  of  it, 
and  of  whatever  was  in  it,  or  belonged  to  it — That,  man 
held  his  right  to  the  world  wholly  under  God,  and  on 
the  terms,  which  God  prescribed — And  that,  on  pain 
of  forfeiting  all,  and  the  favor  of  God  with  it,  he  must 
make  that  use  of  it,  which  God  directed,  and  no  other. 
Of  all  this,  the  forbidden  tree  was  to  be  a  monitor.  It  is 
of  mere  grace  that  we  fallen  creatures  are  suffered  to  en- 
joy the  world,  or  any  of  the  good  things  of  n.  All  kind  of 
right  we  have  to  it,  or  to  any  of  its  comforts  and  enjoy- 


36 

ments,  we  receive  from  Christ,  the  second  Adam,  and 
heir  of  all  things.  We  have  no  such  right  or  title  to  itf 
as  man  would  have  had,  if  he  had  persevered  in  inno* 
cence  ;  nor  do  we  hold  it  by  any  such  tenure  as  he,  in 
that  case  might  nave  done.  We  are  only  tenants  at  will ; 
liable  to  he  called  off  from  it  at  any  moment ;  it  being  of 
undeserved  favor  and  mercy  that  we  may  use  it,  at  all* 
Religion,  had  it  the  proper  possession  of  our  hearts, 
would  effectually  teach  us,  that  all  the  enjoyment  we 
have  of  ihis  world,  and  the  good  things  of  it,  even  of  ev- 
ery crumb  of  bread  and  drop  of  water,  is  purchased—** 
and  that,  too,  not  with  silver  and  gold,  but  by  the  pre- 
cious blood  of  Christ.  How  indebted  would  it  make  us 
feel  to  the  glorious  God  and  Saviour,  and  to  mercy ! 
How  would  such  Considerations  heighten  our  comforts, 
and  enrich  and  sweeten  every  worldly  enjoyment ! 
Could  we  then  eat  and  drink  without  praising  the  Lord  ? 
It  \\ould  make  us  tremble  at  the  thought  of  eating  and 
drinking  forourown  pleasure,  makingour bellies  our  gods, 
and  consuming  divine  mercies  on  our  lusts.  We  should 
be  afraid  to  take,  even  the  least  thing  purchased  at  such 
a  price,  and  use  it  in  any  other  way,  or  for  any  other 
purpose,  than  the  Lord  Jesus  directs.  It  would  lead  us 
ever  to  keep  in  mind,  that  we  must  give  a  strict  and 
solemn  account  for  every  article  we  have  had,  and  the 
use  we  have  made  of  it.  It  would  engage  us  to  make 
to  ourselves  friends  of  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness, 
that  when  we  fail,  they  might  receive  us  into  everlasting 
habitations. 

How  would  such  thoughts  tend  to  disengage  our  af- 
fections from  the  world,  and  from  its  pleasures  and  pur- 
suits !  Had  they  possession  of  our  hearts,  it  would  be 
our  delight  and  joy  to  honor  God  with  our  substance, 
and  to  serve  Christ  with  the  world,  and  with  such  of  the 
good  things  of  it  as  he  is  graciously  pleased  to  commit 
to  our  care  and  disposal.  Instead  of  coveting  much,  we 
should  be  content  with  such  things  as  we  have.  But 
knowing  ourselves,  we  should  be  afraid  of  the  wealth, 
the  riches,  and  the  honors  of  the  world,  lest  they  should 
make  us  forget  God,  lead  our  hearts  astray  from  him,  and 
be  a  snare  to  us. 


37 

7.  WE  should  be  taught,  and  ever  keep  in  mind,  that 
the  suggestions  of  sin  and  satan  are  always  delusive  : 
Whoever  complies  with  them,  must  be  a  loser  by  it. 
They  charm,  but  to  devour.  They  promise  much,  but 
perform  little.  However  they  solicit  the  senses — how- 
ever flattering  and  plausible  they  may  appear,  yet,  at 
the  last,  they  bite  like  a  serpent,  and  sting  like  an  adder. 
Our  first  parents  felt  the  melancholy  effects  of  listening 
to  temptation  :— They  smarted  sorely  for  their  folly. 
No  one  touches  forbidden  things,  without  receiving  a 
wound.  But  it  may  be  asked,  "  How  shall  we  know 
*'  what  are  the  suggestions  of  sin  and  satan  ?"  To  this 
it  may  be  answered,  "  every  thing,  which  tends  to  lead 
**  our  hearts  and  our  thoughts  from  God — every  thing, 
u  which  tends  to  feed  or  flatter  the  pride  oi  the  human 
"  heart,  or  to  provoke  and  inflame  the  lusts  of  the  flesh— 
"  every  thing,  which  tells  us,  we  shall  have  peace,  tho* 
"  we  walk  in  the  imagination  of  our  own  heart."  In 
this  manner  the  false  prophets  are  described,  Jer.  xxiii. 
17.  "  They  say  still  unto  them  that  despise  me,  the 
*•  Lord  hath  said  ye  shall  have  peace  ;  and  they  say  un- 
ic  to  every  one  that  walketh  after  the  imagination  of  his 
u  own  heart,  No  evil  shall  come  upon  you."  The  re- 
ligion of  Christ,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  is  a  religion  of 
self  denial :  No  religion,  which  is  not,  ever  came  from 
God,  or  will  be  acceptable  to  him.  Every  exercise  and 
indulgence  of  the  natural  selfishness  of  the  human  heart, 
is  sinful.  Before  this  temper  the  baits  of  sin  and  satan 
are  laid.  Whatever  hopes  or  expectations  any  one  may 
entertain  of  escaping  future  endless  evil,  without  deny- 
ing all  ungodliness  and  worldly  lust — without  becoming 
a  new  creature,  and  complying  with  the  very  terms  of 
the  gospel  of  Christ — without  being  interested,  by  a  tru- 
ly humble  and  evangelical  faith,  in  the  merit  and  righ- 
teousness of  Christ ;  he  may  be  assured,  are  originally 
from  that  old  serpent,  who  told  our  first  parents,  "  ye 
"  shall  not  surely  die."  Let  every  one,  then,  take  sea- 
sonable warning  from  the  fate  of  the  first  transgressors  : 
remembering  the  danger  they  are  in  from  the  original 
betrayer  ;  and,  never  forgetting,  that  he  is  now  continu- 
ally going  about  as  a  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom  he  may 
devour. 


38 

8.  WHAT  abundant  reason  have  we  to  admire  the 
wisdom  and  love  of  God  in  overruling  the  sin  and  fall  of 
man  to  his  own  glory  in  the  greater  good  of  our  sinful 
race  !  Here  we  see  the  wrath  of  man  praising  God. 
Though,  as  we  cannot  hut  see,  sin  has  very  greatly  and 
awfully  abounded  by  the  fall  of  Adam,  grace  has  much 
more  abounded  by  the  Lord  Jesus,  towards  us.  What 
glorious  displays  are  these  of  the  wisdom  and  power, 
the  unbounded  love  and  mercy  and  grace  of  God,  in 
the  salvation  of  sinn-rs  !  The  disobedience  of  our  first 
parents  gave  occasion  for  the  exercise  of  such  wisdom 
and  love,  and  for  the  clear  and  lively  manifestations,  to 
the  views  and  apprehensions  of  creatures,  of  such  divine 
and  wonderful  glory  as  never  would  have  been  seen,  or 
conceived  of,  had  they  not  fallen.  But  all  this  was  un- 
questionably comprehended  in  God's  wise  and  original 
plan.  For  the  apostle  tells  us,  Ephes.  iii,  9 — 11.  that 
"  God  created  all  things  by  Jesus  Christ,  to  the  intent 
"  that  now,  unto  the  principalities  and  powers  in  heav- 
*'  enly  places,  might  be  known,  by  the  church,  the  mani- 
"  fold  wisdom  of  God,  according  to  the  eternal  purpose 
11  which  he  purposed  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  This 
glorious  purpose  of  God,  it  was  the  design  of  the  great 
adversary  to  defeat  :  But  wherein  he  walked  proudly, 
God  was  above  him.  By  the  ruin  of  human  nature,  the 
great  adversary  meant  to  prevent  its  ever  being  taken 
into  that  near  and  intimate  union  with  the  divine,  to 
which  it  is  now  in  fact  raised  up.  But  he  was  made 
the  unwilling  instrument,  in  the  hand  of  God,  of  prepar- 
ing for  the  accomplishment  of  the  very  designs  he  meant 
to  frustrate  : — And,  is  now  fallen  into  the  pit,  which 
he  digged  for  others.  God  overrules  the  malice  and 
devices  of  satan  to  his  own  glory,  an^l  the  good  of  man. 
Let  the  conviction  ever  be  on  our  minds  and  hearts, 
that  the  counsel  of  God  shall  stand,  and  that  he  will  do 
all  his  pleasure — That  the  purposes  of  all  other  enemies 
shall  be  as  perfectly  overthrown,  as  those  of  the  origin- 
al adversary  of  God  and  man.  Though  the  serpent 
meant,  that  the  way  to  the  tree  of  life  should  be  forever 
barred  from  man,  the  Lord  Jesus  came,  and  has  again, 
opened  to  us  the  way  to  it  ;  and  that  so  effectually,  that 
it  never  can  again  be  shut.  And  now  a  far  monj  glori* 
ous  inheritance  is  prepared  for  all,  who  will  return  to 


59 

God  by  Christ,  than  this  world  ever  could  have  been,  in 
its  greatest  glory.  A  richer  and  far  more  glorious 
crown  is  provided  for  every  friend  and  follower  of 
Christ,  than  Adam  ever  could  have  worn,  had  he  main- 
tained his  original  standing.  However  awfully  sin  has 
abounded,  still  divine  grace  much  more  abounds.  Let 
us  all,  then,  feel  it  to  be  our  wisdom  ever  to  confide  in 
God,  and  in  his  disposals,  and  to  rest  satisfied  in  his  gov- 
ernment. Every  thing,  every  desireable  and  valuable  in- 
terest is  infinitely  safe  and  secure  in  his  hand.  And, 
let  it  ever  be  impressed  on  our  consciences  and  hearts, 
that  there  is  no  safety,  no  security  for  us,  but  in  serving 
and  following  the  Lord* 


SERMON  III. 


ON  THE  EXCLUSION  OF   OUR  PIRST  PA- 
RENTS FROM  THE  GARDEN  OF  EDEN. 


GENESIS  III.  22,  23,  24, 

AND  THE  LORD  GOD  SAID,  BEHOLD  THE  MAN  IS 
BECOME  AS  ONE  OF  US,  TO  KNOW  GOOD  <^ND 
EVIL.  AND  NOW,  LEST  HE  PUT  FORTH  HIS  HAND, 
AND  TAKE  ALSO  OF  THE  TREE  OF  LIFE,  AND  EAT, 
AND  LIVE  FOREVER.  THEREFORE  THE  LORD  GOD 
SENT  HIM  FORTH  FROM  THE  GARDEN  OF  EDEN, 
TO  TILL  THE  GROUND  FROM  WHENCE  HE  WAS 
TAKEN.  SO  HE  DROVE  OUT  THE  MAN:  AND  HE 
PLACED  AT  THE  EAST  OF  THE  GARDEN  OF  EDEN, 
CHERUBIMS,  AND  A  FLAMING  SWORD,  WHICH 
TURNED  EVERY  WAY,  TO  KEEP  THE  WAY  OF  THE 
TREE  OF  LIFE. 

MANY  were  the  melancholy  consequf nces  of  listen- 
ing to  the  voice  of  the  tempter,  which  our  first  parents 
were  made  to  experience.  Amongst  others,  though  a 
door  of  hope  was  opened  to  the^n,  they  were  driven 
from  the  happy  abode  of  their  innocence,  and  from  the 
tree,  which  might  have  been  a  pledge  to  them  of  God's 
eternal  love  and  favor.  But  when  they  had  violated  the 
holy  commandment,  and  refused  subjection  to  the 
Sovereign  Lord  and  proprietor  of  all  things,  it  was  not 
fit  that  they  should  have  access  to  that  tree,  which  was 
to  have  been  the  seal  of  a  covenant  on  God's  part,  of  a 
perpetually  happy  life  to  them  in  the  world  which  he 
gave  them  ;  and,  on  theirs,  ol  increasing  obedience  and 
unreserved  submission  to  him.  Therefore  Gcd  says,  in 
our  text,  in  allusion  to  the  false  and  wicked  suggestion 
of  the  tempter,  "  Behold,  the  man  is  become  as  one  of 
"  us,  to  know  good  and  evil" — As  though  he  had  said, 
F 


42 

4  No  doubt,  the  man  is  become  so  wise  as  to  be  capable 
"  of  judging  for  himself,  and  determining  on  the  proper 
u  measures  for  recovering  what  he  has  lost. — In  the 
"  fulness  of  his  wisdom,  he  may  conclude,  that  if  he 
"  take  of  the  tree  of  life,  it  may  yet  save  him  from  the 
"  curse,  and  secure  him  a  happy  abode  in  that  paradise 
"  which  he  has  forfeited."  Therefore,  it  is  said,  the 
Lord  God  sent  him  forth,  and  drove  him  out,  and  pla- 
ced so  marvellous  and  awful  a  guard,  as  would  forever 
bar  him  from  the  tree  of  life. 

THE  words  of  the  text  lead  us  to  inquire, 

I.  WHY  this  tree,  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  garden^ 
nigh  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  was  cal- 
led the  tree  of  life. 

II.  WHAT  was  the  import  of  its  being  guarded,  in  the 
solemn  and  awful  manner  it  was,  from  access   by  our 
first  parents  after  their  fall. 

IF  each  of  these  may  be  justly  and  properly  explained, 
it  may  open  the  way  for  a  number  of  instructive  inferen- 
ces and  remarks. 

I.  WE  may  inquire,  why  the  tree  standing  in  the 
midst  of  the  garden,  nigh  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  ot 
good  and  evil,  was  called  the  tree  of  life. 

WHEN  Adam  was  on  a  state  of  trial,  it  is  easily  seen, 
that  it  was  no  more  than  fit  and  suitable,  there  should  be, 
some  known,  appointed  test  of  his  obedience.  In  what 
manner  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  was 
such,  we  trust  has  been  shewed  in  a  preceding  discourse. 
As  there  was  such  an  instituted  test  of  his  obedience,  it 
is  no  more  than  reasonable  to  suppose,  there  should  also 
be  a  tree,  the  taking  of  which  should  be  a  token,  on  his 
part,  of  his  engagements  to  be  forever  the  Lord's  ;  and 
on  God's,  of  his  acceptance  and  approbation  of  him  up- 
on trial,  and  of  a  covenant  of  perpetual  life  and  favor 
to  him.  As  our  first  parents  brought  death  on  them.- 
selves,  and  on  their  posterity,  by  taking  of  the  forbidden 
fruit,  there  is  sufficient  reason  to  believe,  they  might 


*iave  secured  to  themselves  perpetual  life  and  peace,  and 
transmitted  the  same  blessings  to  their  posterity  after 
them,  by  taking,  while  in  innocence,  of  the  tree  of  life. 
THAT  they  understood  this  to  be  the  import  of  the  tree 
of  life,  and  that  their  taking  of  the  fruit  of  it  would  be 
a  covenant — security  of  the  favor  of  God,  and  an  end- 
less life,  may  naturally  be  inferred  from  the  words  of  the 
text :  Otherwise,  God  would  not  have  said  of  the  man, 
**  now  lest  he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  take  also  of  the 
"  tree  of  life,  and  eat  and  live  forever."  Their  obeying 
the  voice  of  God  respecting  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil,  during  the  term  ol  trial,  which  God  had 
allotted  ;  and,  then  taking  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  life, 
Would  have  been  a  profession  and  witness  on  their  part, 
that  they  willingly  and  thankfully  received  the  world  on 
the  terms  on  which  God  offered  it  them ;  and,  agreed 
and  promised  forever  to  use  it  for  God,  and  in  his  ser- 
vice: And,  on  God's  part,  agreeably  to  the  nature  and  de- 
sign of  its  appointment,  a  pledge  of  his  perpetual  love 
and  favor. 

THE  tree,  which  was  called  the  tree  of  life,  was  of  a 
sacramental  nature  and  import,  somewhat  in  the  same 
sense,  in  which  some  Christian  institutions  are  sacrament- 
al. In  its  original  design,  it  was  to  have  been  the  seal 
of  a  covenant  betwixt  God  and  man.  The  taking  of 
the  fruit  of  it,  by  our  first  parents,  would  have  been  stri- 
king the  covenant  between  God  and  them  :  And  it  would 
have  been  an  everlasting  covenant,  extending  its  securi- 
ty and  blessings  to  all  their  posterity,  time  without  endo 
It  never  would  have  been  violate  '  by  either  party  in  the 
covenant,  any  more  than  the  covenant  of  grace,  now  es- 
tablished in  Christ,  with  believers,  will  fail  and  become 
void.  But  it  would  have  seemed  to  therri  nothing  more, 
than  the  perpetual  possession  of  this  world,  in  the  en- 
joyment of  all  that  holiness  and  happiness,  which  they 
experienced  in  that  rich  and  pleasant  garden,  while  in 
innocence  ;  and,  undoubtedly,  a  great  increase  of  it.  But 
there  was  nothing  in  the  nature  ot  the  transaction  between 
God  and  man,  which  gave  the  Icasl  intimation,  that  men, 
if  obedient,  should  ev«r  be  removed  from  this,  to  anoth- 
er and  better  world  ;  or,  if  disobedient,  would  evrr  be 
consigned  tb  any  other  state,  for  a  punishment,  which 


44 

might  not  have  been  inflicted  on  them  in  that  world, 
\vhich  was  the  scene  of  their  rebellion.  Yea,  the  words 
of  the  apostle  give  us  reason  to  suppose,  that  this  -world 
will,  in  fact,  be  the  place  of  punishment  for  those  of 
mankind,  who  reject  offered  mercy,  to  all  eternity.  For 
he  tells  us,  2  Pet.jii.  7.  "the  heavens  and  the  earth,  which 
"  are  now,  by  the  word  of  God  are  kept  in  store,  reser- 
"  vecl  unto  fire  against  the  day  of  judgment  and  perdi- 
"  tion  of  ungodly  men."  The  provision,  for  a  removal 
of  any  of  mankind  from  this,  to  another  and  better  world, 
is  made  um'^r  the  new  and  gracious  dispensation  :  The 
former,  contained  nothing  ol  it. 

WE  see,  then,  that  in  these  two  trees  in  the  midst  of 
the  garden,  our  first  parents  had  life  and  good  and  death 
and  evil,  the  blessing  and  the  curse,  set  before  them  :— • 
And  to  them  it  was  left  to  make  the  solemn  and  infinite- 
ly important  choice.  Deluded,  they  chose  the  evil,  and 
thereby  brought  death  on  themselves,  and  on  all  their 
posterity.  This  leads  us, 

II.  To  inquire  what  was  the  design,  and  what  the 
import  of  the  tree's  being  guarded,  in  the  solemn  and 
awful  manner  it  was,  from  the  access  of  fallen,  sinful 
man. 

Considering  what  was  intended  by  its  being  a  tree  of 
life,  it  is  easily  seen,  that  our  first  parents  coukl  not  have 
the  least  shadow  of  right  to  it,  after  they  had  sinned, 
and  forfeited  the  condition,  on  which  they  might  have 
hud  the  love  and  favor  of  God  for. an  everlasting  inher- 
itance. After  this,  and  when  they  had  incurred  his  aw- 
ful displeasure  and  anger,  it  could  have  been  no  pledge, 
on  God's  part,  of  his  favor,  or  of  any  good  to  them  in 
consideration  of  their  obedience.  Nor  could  it  have 
been  a  pledge,  on  their  part,  when  they  had  already  sin- 
ne:l,  of  perpetual  s»nd  unceasing  obedience,  as  the  con- 
dition on  which  they  might  expect  the  Lord  to  be  their 
God.  Taking  into  view  the  nature  of  God's  covenant — 
the  proposals  he  made  to  man- — and  the  reason  why  this 
tree  in  the  midst  of  the  garden  was  called  the  tree  of 
life  ;  we  readily  discern  the  utter  impropriety,  that  man, 
after  his  fall,  should  have  liberty  of  access  to  it : 


45 
HERE  then,  it  may  be  observed, 

1.  OUR  first  parents  being  driven  from  the  garden, 
and  shut  out  from  the  tree  of  life,  was  exceedingly  fit- 
ted to  teach  them  the  utter  impossibility  of  ever  regain- 
Ing  life  and  the  favor  of  God,  by  any  of  their  own  fu- 
ture works  of  obedience  ;  and  that  it  was  now  eternally 
too  late  for  them  to  expect  it — That,  if  good  ever  came 
to  them,  it  must  be  all  of  mercy — of  grace.  They  had 
had  a  price  put  into  their  hands,  but  no  hearts  to  im- 
prove it.  They  had  been  favoured  with  an  opportunity, 
a  happy  opportunity,  for  securing  the  goodness  and  love 
of  God,  both  to  themselves  and  all  their  posterity.  But 
the  blessed  priviledge  was  now  gone — it  was  lost,  never 
to  be  recovered.  The  perpetual  favor  and  love  of  God, 
they  might  reflect,  were  offered  to  them  only  on  condi- 
tion of  perfect,  sinless  obedience.  But  they  had  dis- 
obeyed the  voice  ot  God,  and  incurred  his  awful  anger  : 
And  now,  alas  !  what  should  they  do — It  was  now  for- 
ever out  of  their  power  to  bring  themselves  again  into 
the  divine  favor.  And  as  to  the  tree  of  life,  which  was 
to  have  been  a  pledge  of  perpetual  security  to  them,  how 
awfully  and  dreadfully  was  it  guarded  !  How  impossi- 
ble for  them  ever  to  gain  access  to  it !  The  very  sight 
of  the  cherubims,  and  of  the  flaming  sword  must,  in  a 
moment,  have  struck  death  to  every  such  hope.  Drove 
oat,  by  the  word  and  power  of  the  Great  and  justly  of- 
fended God,  what  a  solitary  and  melancholy  walk  must 
they  have  had  out  of  that  pleasant  and  delightful  garden, 
the  earthly  paradise,  never  again  to  return  to  it !  Could 
they  look  back  upon  it,  without  mournful  sighs,  and 
cheeks  covered  with  blushes,  as  well  as  eyes  running 
with  tears  !  How  was  the  vcice  of  God  driving  them 
out,  and  the  glorious,  yet  solemn  and  awful  scenery  be- 
fore their  eyes,  filled  to  convict  them  of  their  extreme 
folly  and  wickedness,  impress  them  with  a  deep  and  af- 
fecting sense  of  it,  and  soften  their  hearts  into  sorrow  and 
mourning  for  what  they  had  done.  Surely  the  divine 
severity  was  exceedingly  gentle  :  And,  in  the  midst  of 
all  the  testimonies  there  were  of  God's  holy  displeasure, 
there  were,  nevertheless  tokens  of  gracious  favor  and 
mercy.  But  it  must,  however,  have  been,  to  the  guilty 
exiles,  an  exceedingly  solemn  and  affecting  scene. 


46 

2.  THE  cherubims,  and  the  flaming  sword  turning 
every  way  to  guard  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life,  were  rep- 
resentations and  emblems  full  of  instruction.  The  fla- 
ming sword  very  naturally  represented  the  sword  of  di- 
vine justice  point«-<!  :u  the  sinner.  Adam  and  Eve,  it 
is  to  be  observed,  had  become  in  a  measure  sensible  of 
ickedness  in  what  they  had  done,  before  this  sol- 
em. i  and  i*if:ctinjr  scenery  was  presented  before  them. 
They  knew  thiu  God  had  said,  in  the  day  they  ate  of 
the  forbidden  tree,  they  should  surely  'lie.  They  could 
not  but  suppose,  that  this  was  the  sword  to  avenge  thfe 
injured  justice  of  God.  Anri,  as  it  turned  every  way  to 
keep  the  way  of  trr.-  fee  of  life,  it  would  naturally  sug- 
gest to  them  the  utter  impossibility  of  the  sinner's  ma- 
king his  way  to  it,  < ;.»th  -rwise  than  on  the  point  of  it.  The 
conclusion  was  easy  and  natural,  and  could  hardly  fail 
of  being  made  by  guilty  man,  that  there  was  do  way  for 
the  sinntr  to  obtain  a  covenant — security  of  life  in  the 
favor  of  God,  but  on  the  point  of  this  terrible  sword.  It 
was  fitted  to  give  him  to  see,  that  divine  justice  made 
its  challenge  ;  and  must  have  its  demands  :  And  that, 
whoever  should  ever  open  a  way  for  the  sinner  to  ob- 
tain the  divine  favor,  must  do  it  on  the  very  point  of  this 
sword,  and  be  himself  pierced  by  it.  The  instruction 
here  held  up^  therefore  was,  that,  in  the  first  place,  a 
sinner  never  could  work  out  a  righteousness  of  his  own, 
in  which  he  might  appear  before  the  holy  God — This 
Was  absolutely  impossible  :  For  nothing  short  of  perfect, 
persevering  obedience  woul  i  be  sufficient  for  this  : — 
And,  in  the  next  place,  that  divine  justice,  which  guards 
the  government  of  God,  and  drives  the  sinner  from  his 
presence  and  favor  must  be  satisfied,  and  its  rights  se- 
cured, before  it  could  be  that  a  sinner  shoul  ;  ever,  in 
any  way,  become  the  object  of  divine  favor  : — And, 
that  thus  to  fulfil  the  law  of  God,  and  satisfy  his  justice, 
was  absolutely  and  infinitely  impossible  for  the  sinner. 
Hapless,  wretched,  desperate  state  of  the  sinner,  as  to 
any  thing  in  himself,  or  any  kind  of  power  or  sufficien- 
cy of  his  own  ever  to  obtain  relief !  As  God  designed 
mercy  lor  Adam  and  his  posterity,  and  had  already  giv- 
en hint  intimations  of  it,  ho\v  fit  and  suitable  was  it  that 
these  solemn  truths  should  be  deeply  impressed  on  his 
conscience  and  heart :  that  he  might  be  prepared  to  see, 


at  what  vast  and  infinite  expense  salvation  is  wrought 
out  for  sinners  ;  and,  thereby,  be  enabled  more  proper- 
ly to  estimate  the  worth  of  divine  mercy,  and  see  its 
glory ! 

As  to  the  cherubims,  perhaps  their  import  and  signi- 
fication  are  not  so  plain  and  obvious,  as  those  of  the  fla- 
ming sword.  By  cherubim,  it  has  generally  been  sup- 
posed, are  meant  holy  angels,  who  are  God's  ministeis, 
both  to  execute  his  judgments,  and  protect  and  defend 
his  chosen  ones  among  men — For  they  are  sent  forth  to 
minister  to  those,  who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation.  Pos- 
sibly, however,  something  else  may  be  designed,  in  this 
place,  and  in  some  others,  besides  a  representation  of  any 
ministration  of  angels.  We  are  to  remember,  that  God's 
dealings  with  our  first  parents,  after  their  sin  and  fall, 
were  unspeakably  kind  and  tender.  He  purposed  to  shew 
mercy  to  the  transgressors — All  his  treatment  of  them 
corresponded  with  the  gracious  design,  and  indicated  it. 
In  the  midst  of  judgment,  he  remembered  mercy.  Even 
before  he  ejected  them  from  the  garden,  and  doomed 
them  to  toil  and  sorrow  here  in  this  life,  he  gave  the 
ever  memorable  and  gracious  promise,  that  the  seed  of 
the  woman  should  bruise  the  serpent's  head.  He  pitied 
their  nakedness,  and  made  coverings  for  them  ;  and 
these  of  the  skins  of  beasts,  probably,  offered,  by  his  di- 
rection in  sacrifice,  and  by  him  accepted.  There  is  rea- 
son, accordingly,  to  suppose,  that,  even  before  he  turned 
them  out  of  the  garden,  he  began  to  soften  their  hearts 
by  the  power  of  divine  grace.  The  various  circumstan- 
ces attending  their  being  driven  out,  which  concurred  to 
impress  them  with  a  sense  of  their  wickedness,  and 
sorrow  for  it,  all  carried,  at  the  same  time,  kindness  and 
goodness  in  them.  It  is  readily  seen,  that  it  was  fit,  di- 
vine justice,  with  the  sword  of  which  they  merited  to  be 
pierced,  should  be  held  up  before  the  eyes  of  our  first 
parents — as  it  was  in  the  flaming  sword,  which  turned 
every  way.  But,  yet,  it  sterns  hardly  to  correspond 
with  the  kind  and  gracious  intimations  given  them,  of 
pardon  and  mercy,  to  suppose  that,  in  that  wonderful 
scenery,  which  was  preso.;r«-«l,  around  the  tree  of  ^  , 
there  should  be  nothing  but  emblems  of  terror  and 
wrath  to  man. 


48 

THF.RE  are  some  objections,  which  possibly,  may  be 
thought  of  weight,  against  the  opinion,  that  the  Cheru- 
bims  mentioned  in  the  text  were  repress  ntations  of  ho- 
Iv  angels.  The  words,  Cherub,  and  Cherubim  which  is 
the  plural,  Hebricians  tell  us  do  not  originally  signify  in* 
telligent  beings — rational  creatures,  but  emblematical 
representations  of  something.  We  have  a  very  partic- 
ular account  of  th',urappearance,  in  the  1st  and  in  the  10th 
chapters  of  the  prophecy  of  Ezekit-1.  There  they  are 
said  to  have  each  one  four  faces  ;  the  face  of  a  man  and 
of  a  lion  on  one  side,  the  face  of  an  ox  and  cf  an  eagle 
on  the  othrr  :  And,  besides  their  vvings,  the  hands  of  a 
man,  and  the  fret  of  a  calf — being,  also,  full  of  eyes  with- 
in and  without.  By  the  description  we  have  of  ihefour 
beasts,  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  the  Revelations,  it  ap- 
pears, they  were  the  same  as  the  cherubim.  It  seems 
hardly  probable,  that  this  is  designed  to  be  an  image  or 
representation  of  the  holy  angels.  There  is  no  reason  to 
suppose,  that  they  have,  each,  four  faces,  that  of  a  man 
and  a  lion,  and  of  an  ox  and  an  eagle  :  And,  as  being 
full  of  eyes,  within  and  without,  or  before  and  behind,  is 
a  natural  emblem  of  omniscience,  it  is  hardly  supposa- 
ble,  that  the  holy  angels  should  be  so  represented. 

MOSES  was  directed  to  make  a  cherubim  and  connect 
them  with  the  mercy  seat,  which  was  over  the  ark  of  the 
testament,  in  the  most  holy  place  in  the  tabernacle,  Exod. 
xxv.  18,  19.  And  \\ithin  the  oracle,  in  the  temple,  Sol- 
omon madr  two  cherubims  ;  and  he  carved  all  the  walls 
of  the  house  round  about,  with  carved  figures  of  cheru- 
bims. See,  1  Kings,  vi.  23,  29.  These  cherubims 
spread  forth  their  wings  ovj:r  the  place  of  the  ark,  and 
covered  the  ark,  1  Kings,  viii.  7.  When  the  children 
of  Israel  were  so  prone  to  imitate  the  example  of  the  na- 
tions round  about  them,  and  fall  Hto  idolatry,  it  should 
seem  rather  improbable,  that  God  himself  shoukl  •  irect 
so  many  images,  or  representations  of  r.ny  celestial  cr^ a- 
ture  to  be  in  the  very  place,  wheie  the  most  solemn 
and  sacred  parts  of  his  worship  were  to  be  performed. 
These  are  some  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the 
more  generally  received  interpretation  of  cherubim. 
But  this  is  not  all ;  John  saw  the  four  beasts,  v\hkh  are 
the  same  as  the  cherubims,  not  only  round  about  the 


49 

throne  of  God,  but  in  the  midst  of  it,  Rev.  iv.  6.  As 
the  holy  scriptures  clearly  represent  the  church,  the 
bride,  the  Lamb's  wife,  as  being  the  first  and  highest 
object  among  creatures,  of  divine  love  ;  and,  as  be- 
ing brought  into  a  greater  nearness  to  God,  and 
a  more  intimate  and  delightful  union  with  him ;  it 
would  be  unnatural  to  suppose,  that  there  is  an 
order  of  angels,  four  in  number,  admitted  into  so  endear- 
ing a  union,  and  so  exalted  a  seat  as  their  being  round 
about  the  throne  and  in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  would 
necessarily  import.  These  difficulties  in  the  way  of  un- 
derstanding the  cherubims  to  be,  either  the  holy  angels, 
or  emblematical  representations  of  them,  may  induce  us, 
at  least,  to  inquire,  whether  they  were  not  of  some  other 
and  different  import. 

WHEN  we  consider,  that,  in  all  God's  dealings  with 
men,  since  the  fall,  and  since  the  first  gracious  promise, 
mercy  and  truth,  righteousness  and  peace  meet  together, 
and  unite  with  each  other  ;  this  may  assist  us  in  opening 
and  understanding  many  of  the  figurative  and  symboli- 
cal representations,  which  were  made  use  of  previously 
to  the  coming  of  Christ.  God  frequently  made  use  of 
hieroglyphics  heretofore,  for  the  instruction  of  his  peo- 
ple ;  and,  many  of  them  strikingly  represented  the  thing 
designed.  Possibly,  the  cherubims  placed  at  the  east  of  the 
garden  might  have  been  an  emblematical  representation 
of  those  glorious  divine  attributes,  which  so  wonderfully 
unite  and  harmonize  in  the  great  work  of  redemption. 
We  know  that,  heretofore,  a  bullock  was,  most  general- 
ly used  in  burnt  offerings,  as  a  sacrifice  of  atonement — 
And  this  to  prefigure  the  atonement,  which  Christ  made 
by  being  himself  a  sacrifice,  and  making  his  soul  or 
life  an  offering  for  sin.  Were  the  cherubims  a  hiero- 
glyphic of  the  union  of  righteousness  and  mercy,  and  of 
their  glorious  display  in  the  work  of  redemption  ;  the 
face  of  a  man,  in  the  cherub,  might  represent  the  human 
nature  of  Christ — of  an  ox,  his  becoming,  himself,  a  sac- 
rifice for  sin  ;— being  full  of  eyes  within  and  without, 
his  Divinity. — The  same,  also,  of  the  hands  of  a  man, 
and  the  feet  of  a  calf,  which  were  parts  of  the  cherubim. 
These  parts  of  the  cherubims  were  a  figurative  represent- 
ation of  the  wonderful  kindness  and  mercy  of  God  to  his 
people.  The  faces  of  a  lion  and  an  eagle,  the  one  a 
G 


beast  of  prey,  remarkable  for  his  strength  ;  the  other,  a 
bird  of  prey,  remarkable  for  his  swiftness  ;  might  denote 
judgment  and  vengeance  on  the  enemies  of  Christ  and 
His  church. 

AFTER  God  had  promised  our  first  parents,  that  the- 
seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  serpent's  head,  he 
instituted  sacrifices  as  types,  undoubtedly,  of  the  sacri- 
fice of  this  seed  ;  and,  to  give  intimation  of  the  way,  in 
which  everlasting  righteousness  was  to  be  brought  in. 
What  the  import  was,  of  the  flaming  sword  turning  eve- 
ry way  to  guard  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life,  has  been  be- 
fore shown.  If  the  import  of  the  cherubims  was,  as 
here  suggested,  the  whole  scenery  around  the  tree  of 
life,  was  really  much  of  the  same  import,  and  expressive 
of  the  same  thing,  as  was  signified  by  the  furniture  of 
the  most  holy  place  in  the  temple  of  Solomon.  In  this 
part  of  the  temple,  there  was,  first,  the  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant, securing  the  law,  and  holding  and  claiming  the 
rights  of  justice.  Above,  upon  it,  was  the  mercy  seat, 
and  the  cherubim  stretching  out  their  wings  over  it : — 
here  were  the  clearest  intimations  of  mercy. — In  tills 
was  a  representation  of  the  union  and  harmony  of  righ- 
teousness and  mercy,  in  God's  dealings  with  his  people/' 

WERE  these,  the  emblematical  representations,  at  the- 
garden  of  Eden,  the}  \vere  very  instructive  and  affect- 
ing— They  corresponded  with  the  treatment  God  gave, 
our  first  parents,  after  their  sin  and  fall.  And,  toward 
these  chtrubirns  Adam  and  Eve  would,  probably,  wor- 
ship. Not  forgetting,  that  imagination  may  be  too  much 
indulged  in  explaining  figurative  and  emblematical  rep- 
resentations ;  whether,  what  has  been  said  above,  give 
the  true  import  of  the  scenery  guarding  the  way  of  the 
tree  of  life,  must  now  be  left  with  the  reader  to  judge 
for  himself. 

APPLICATION. 

1.  SOME  may,  perhaps,  be  disposed  to  inquire,  what 
the  r  fleet  would  have  been,  after  our  first  parents  were 
made  naked  by  taking  of  the  forbidden  fruit,  had  they 
gone  immediately  ami  taken  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  ate  ? 
Respecting  this,  it  may  be  observed,  that  it  was  wha* 


51 

was  not  to  be.  Gou  purposed  to  prevent  their  taking  of 
that  tree  ;  and,  he  did  effectually  prevent  it.  But  had 
not  the  holy  God  especially  have  interposed,  it  would 
have  been  only  like  what  men  now  are,  and  altogether 
agreeable  to  the  feelings  of  depraved  human  nature,  for 
our  first  parents  to  have  made  the  experiment,  and  seen 
whether  it  would  not  have  restored  them  to  their  former 
standing  and  happy  state  of  security.  This  disposition 
we  may  see  in  many,  at  the  present  day,  in  the  various 
ways  and  means,  by  which  they  hope  to  get  hold  of  the 
benefits  of  Christ's  death  ;  but,  more  especially  in  their 
apprehensions  and  practice  respecting  the  Lord's  sup- 
per. Christ  has  opened  the  way  to  the  tree  of  life,  for 
sinners.  He,  himself,  is  the  bread  of  life.  The  conse- 
crated elements,  made  use  of  in  the  holy  supper,  are  the 
emblems  of  his  body  and  blood.  Unless  we  embrace 
him  by  faith,  and  feed  upon  him,  where  can  be  the  pro- 
priety of  our  taking  the  outward  symbols  of  his  body 
and  blood — professing,  by  this  act,  that  we  talte  him  for 
«ur  Lord,  and  for  our  life — -that  we  live  by  him,  and 
upon  him?  Had  our  first  parents  been  obedient,  and 
complied  with  the  terms  on  which  God  had  kindly  of- 
fered them  his  everlasting  love  and  favor,  the)'  might 
have  eaten  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  lived  forever.  So,  if 
we  cordially  comply  with  the  terms,  on  which  the  Lord 
Jesus  offers  to  be  our  Saviour  and  our  life  ;  there  is  a 
manifest  suitableness  in  our  partaking,  in  that  hnly  sup- 
per, in  which  he  pledges  his  perpetual  and  eternal  love. 
But  how  many,  without  complying  with  these  gracious 
terms,  will  go  and  hastily  take  the  elements  j  and  this 
with  a  view  to  bring  themselves  into  a  more  promising 
situation,  as  it  relates  to  their  eternal  state  !  And  as  such 
persons,  according  to  the  express  declarations  of  the 
~ivord  of  God,  eat  and  drink  judgment  to  themselves  ; 
so,  had  our  first  parents,  after  eating  of  the  forbidden 
fruit,  presumed  to  have  taken  of  the  tree  of  life,  it 
would  have  been  a  most  sacrilegious  act ;  and,  instead 
of  benefiting  them,  would  only  have  sealed  further  their 
own  eternal  condemnation.  But  it  may  be  inquired 
titill  further, 

2.  AFTER  the  sin  and  fall  of  our  first  parents,    what 
would  have  been  the  consequence,  according  to  the  ten- 


52 

or  of  the  constitution  under  which  they  were  originally 
placed,  had  there  been  no  merciful  interposition  in  their 
favor  ?  In  reply  to  this  inquiry,  it  is  to  be  observed,  that 
the  constitution,  under  which  mankind  were  originally 
placed,  was  altogether  perfect,  and  fitted  to  go  into  op- 
eration and  produce  its  genuine  effects,  whether  the 
first  parents  persisted  in  obedience,  or  not.  Yea,  it  is 
manifest,  even  now,  that  all  the  interpositions  of  divine 
glorious  mercy  and  grace,  have  not  wholly  arrested  and 
presented  all  those  consequences,  which  would  have  been 
the  natural  effect  of  the  operation  of  the  first  and  origi- 
nal constitution.  We  are  evidently  taught,  in  the  holy 
Scriptures,  that  the  covenant,  originally  proposed  to 
man,  connected  the  moral  state  and  condition  of  posteri- 
ty with  the  conduct  of  the  first  parents.  This  connex- 
ion, we  see,  is  in  fact  preserved,  notwithstanding  inter- 
rsitions  of  the  richest  mercy  : — For  we  are  told,  Rom. 
.42,  15,  18,  20,  "  Wherefore,  as  by  one  man  sin  en- 
44  tered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin  :  and  so  death 
44  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned."  And 
that  "  through  the  offence  of  one,  many  sire  dead. — That 
44  by  the  offence  of  one,  judgment  came  upon  all  men 
41  to  condemnation  :  and  that  by  one  man's  disobedience, 
41  many  were  made  sinners."  Hence  it  must  be  evi- 
dent, that  the  natural  operation  of  the  original  constitu- 
tion, had  there  been  no  interposition  of  mercy,  would 
not  have  precluded  the  existence  of  posterity.  Our  first 
parents  were  to  be  fruitful,  and  multiply  and  replenish 
the  earth.  And  we  see  no  reason  to  conclude,  they 
vrould  not  have  done  it,  had  no  Saviour  been  provided. 
No  Saviour  is  provided  for  the  angels,  who  sinned  ;— 
nor  is  mercy  offered  to  them.  Yet  the  full  execution 
of  deserved  punishment  on  them,  for  wise  reasons,  is 
suspended  :  For  the  Apostle  tells  us,  2  Pet.  2,  4,  that 
God  has  delivered  them  into  chains  of  darkness,  to  be 
reserved  unto  judgment.  Nor  can  it  be  unreasonable  to 
suppose,  that  the  full  execution  of  the  evil  implied  in 
the  original  threatening,  in  the  day  that  thoit  eatest  there- 
of thou  shalt  surely  die,  might  have  been  suspended,  un- 
til the  human  race  was  so  multiplied  as  to  replenish  and 
fill  the  earth.  Then  vengeance  would  have  been  execu- 
ted, and  a  just  recompence  of  reward  rendered  to  all. 


53 

3.  IT  does  not  appear  but  that  our  first  parents,  as 
long  as  they  remained  innocent,  had  free  access  to  the 
tree  oflife — -of  every. tree  of  the  garden,  excepting  the 
tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  they  might  free* 
ly  eat — The  tree  of  life  was  never  forbidden  them,  until 
after  they  had  taken  of  the  prohibited  fruit.  As  these 
trees,  in  their  true  import,  were  of  such  vast  importance 
to  Adam,  now  in  a  state  of  trial ;  it  cannot  be  otherwise 
than  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  God  gave  him  sufficient- 
ly to  understand  for  what  end  it  was,  they  were  made 
and  placed  in  the  mHst  of  the  garden.  Yea,  it  mani- 
festly appears  from  God's  expelling  him  from  the  gar- 
den lest  he  should  put  forth  his  hand  and  take  of  the  tree 
of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  forever,  that  he  did,  in  fact,  un- 
derstand it.  If  our  first  parents  understood  what  was 
to  be  the  effect  of  their  taking  and  eating  of  the  fruit  of 
this  tree,  while  in  a  state  of  purity  and  innocence,  it  may 
be  inquired,  Why  they  neglected  it — Why  they  did  not 
take,  and  eat,  and  secure  those  rich  and  endless  blessings, 
which  would  ha\re  followed  ?  While  innocent,  they  loved 
the  Lord  their  God  perfectly — There  was  nothing  they 
could  prize  so  highly  as  his  favor  :  Nor,  any  thing  they 
could  dread,  so  much  as  losing  it,  and  being  forever 
shut  out  from  it.  Why,  then,  did  they  not  take  of  that 
pledge  of  his  everlasting  favor,  which  was  set  before 
them  ? 

WE  have,  before  observed,  that  Adam  had  a  state  of 
trial  and  probation.  He  was  not  to  be  established  in 
the  favor  of  God,  without  a  tried  and  approved  charac- 
ter. How  long  this  state  of  trial  was  to  have  lasted, 
before  he  would  have  been  established  in  a  state  of  ho- 
liness and  happiness,  God  has  not  seen  fit  particularly 
to  inform  us.  The  term  of  the  trial  and  temptation  of  the 
second  Adam,  the  promised  seed  and  Saviour,  we  are 
expressly  informed,  was  forty  days.  It  may  not  be  un- 
reasonable to  apprehend,  that  though  all  the  other  trees 
in  the  garden  were  laden  with  fruit,  yet  this,  which  was 
to  have  been  a  pledge  of  God's  everlasting  favor  to  man, 
after  a  suitable  term  of  trial,  had  he  persevered  in  obe- 
dience, as  yet  had  no  fruit  on  it.  It  was  evidently  suit- 
able, that  Adam  should  have  time  and  opportunity  to 


well  and  understand  the  proposals  made  to  Vint, 
and  the  conditions  on  which  he  might  have  the  earth, 
and  all  the  brutal  creation  subjected  to  him  ;  and  in- 
herit, too,  the  perpetual  favor  of  God  with  them.  Ac- 
cordingly, we  are  told,  Genes,  ii.  19,  20.  "  And  out 
"  of  the  ground  the  Lord  God  formed  every  beast  of  the 
*'  field,  and  every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  brought  them  unto 
u  Adam  to  see  what  he  would  call  the m  :  And  whatso« 
"  ever  Adam  called  every  living  creature,  that  was  the 
<:  name  thereof.  And  Adam  gave  names  to  all  cattle, 
"  and  to  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  to  every  beast  of  the 
"  field."  It  will  be  no  otherwise  than  analogous  to  the 
moral  state  of  Adam,  to  suppose  that  this  tree  was  cre- 
ated in  its  bloom.  Adam  himself  was  thus  formed—* 
His  nature  was  originally  formed  in  perfect  moral  beau- 
ty—In the  bloom  of  purity  and  innocence  he  began  his  mor- 
al existence.  But  the  time  was  not  yet  come  for  the  fruit  of 
this  beautiful  moral  creation  to  appear  ina  confirmed  state 
of  holiness,  and  of  love  and  subjection  to  God.  However 
promising  the  prospect,  to  the  view  of  creatures,  it  was 
yet  undecided,  whether  the  fruit  should  finally  be  unto 
holiness  and  endless  life.  In  forty  days  the  fruit  of  this 
beautiful  tree  in  the  midst  of  the  garden  might  come  to  ma- 
turity, and  be  fit  for  the  use  for  which  it  was  originally 
formed.  Inthis  period,  the  term  of  the  second  Adam's 
temptation  and  trial,  \\izjirst  had  sufficient  opportunity 
maturely  to  consider  and  weigh  the  proposals  made  to  him 
by  the  Great  Author  of  his  being,  and  Lord  and  propri- 
etor of  the  world.  Before  the  end  of  this  period,  and  when 
the  fruit  of  this  tree  was  nearly  fit  for  use,  the  serpent,  the 
subtle  deceiver  might,  as  we  sa),  nick  the  time,  and  pre- 
vail on  our  first  parents  forever  to  preclude  themselves 
from  the  blessed  privilege  of  having  the  fruit  of  this 
tree  a  seal  of  God's  perpetual  love  and  favor,  by  taking 
and  eating  of  the  fruit,  which  was  forbidden  them  on 
pain  of  death.  In  this  way  the  old  serpent,  the  prince 
of  darkness,  thought  to  have  the  whole  race  of  man  to 
himself,  and  reign  as  a  mighty  potentate  on  earth  though 
he  were  cast  out  of  heaven.  But  into  the  pit  which  he 
digged  for  men,  he  himself  has  fallen  ;  and  will  add  to 
the  triumphs  of  the  mighty  power  and  justice  of  the  $tf- 
r*ndAdam  the  Lord  of  glory. 


5$ 

4.  WE,  the  sinful  posterity  of  the  original  transgres- 
sors, may  receive  much  instruction  from  that  solemn 
and  awful  guard,  which  so  effectually  barred  our  first 
parents  from  access  to  the  tree  of  life  after  their  fall. 
The  tree  of  life,  as  we  have  before  observed,  was  ap- 
pointed to  be,  on  certain  conditions,  a  pledge  of  God's 
everlasting  love  to  man  : — The  tree  of  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil,  if  taken,  a  certain  signal  of  endless  ruin. 
By  the  awful  guard  set  around  the  tree  of  life  after  the 
sin  of  Adam,  access  to  the  divine  favor,  by  any  thing 
guilty  man  could  ever  do,  was  rendered  infinitely  im- 
possible. We  are,  all  of  us,  precisely  m  the  same  con- 
dition, with  respect  to  any,  the  least  sufficiency  to  help 
ourselves,  or  to  gain  access  to  the  favor  of  God  by  any 
thing  we  can  do,  which  our  first  parents  were  in  after 
being  driven  from  their  original,  pleasant  habitation.  If 
we|entertain  the  least  iiope  of  ever  regaining  ihe  divine  fa- 
vor, or  of  escaping  the  evils,  with  which  sinners  are  indis- 
criminately threatned,  by  any  of  our  own  duties  and  ser- 
vices— any  of  our  compliances  and  performances — or 
any  of  our  tears  and  cries  j  let  us  consider,  and  serious- 
ly reflect  upon  it,  that  we  have  indeed  an  exceedingly 
arduous  work  before  us  !  Unless  we  embrace  the  Lord 
Jesus,  in  his  true  and  proper  character,  as  the  only  Sav- 
iour of  sinners,  and  humbly  and  penitently  comply  with 
the  gracious  proposals  of  the  gospel,  as  the  only  way 
in  which  a  sinner  ever  was,  or  will,  or  possibly  can  be 
saved  ;  we  have  to  make  our  way,  to  heaven  and  happi- 
ness, on  the  point  of  the  sword  of  divine  justice,  or  eter- 
nally fail  of  obtaining  them. 

IF  any  one  expect  to  escape  the  divine  displeasure, 
and  secure  the  favor  of  God,  by  his  own  works  of  righ- 
teousness, let  him  look  to  that  flaming  sword,  which 
turned  every  way  to  guard  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life 
from  the  original  parents  of  our  race  ;  and,  his  courage 
must  fail  in  a  moment,  and  his  heart  sink.  And  then,  per- 
haps, he  might  be  led  to  lift  up  his  eyes  toward  the  mercy 
seat,  and  pray  and  cry  for  the  favor  and  mercy  of  God, 
m  the  name  and  for  the  sake  ef  the  Lord  Jesus,  who, 
himself  is  the  propitiation  for  sin, 


56 

5.  WE  may  be  led  to  admire  the  wonderful  conde-» 
gcension  and  love  of  God,  in  his  early  and  gracious 
promise  to  our  rebellious  first  parents  ;  and  in  the  com- 
plete and  glorious  accomplishment  of  it,  in  due  time,  in 
the  death  and  sufferings,  and  the  resurrection  and  assen- 
sion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  see  what  a  striking 
and  awful  guard  was  all  around  the  tree  of  life.  It  could 
be  approached,  and  a  way  opened  to  it  for  sinners,  by 
no  other  person  in  the  universe,  besides  the  Lord  Jesus. 
So  infinitely  indispensible  are  the  rights  and  claims  of 
divine  justice,  and  so  essential  to  the  glory  of  the  God 
of  love,  anJ  the  good  of  his  eternal  kingdom.  No  one 
could  come  at  the  tree  of  life,  the  symbol  of  God's  ever- 
lasting favor,  without  sheathing  this  awful  sword  in  his 
own  bowels.  Such  was  the  helpless,  desperate  state  of 
fallen  man.  Hear  the  language  of  the  Son  of  God,  at  a 
crisis  so  awful.  "  And  I  looked,  and  there  was  none  to 
"  help  ;  and  I  wondered  that  there  was  none  to  uphold  : 
44  therefore  mine  own  arm  bTought  salvation  unto  me  ; 
44  and  my  fury  it  upheld  me."  Again,  Isai.  lix.  16. 
"  And  he  saw  that  there  was  no  manT  and  wondered 
"  that  there  was  no  intercessor ;  therefore  his  arm 
41  brought  salvation  unto  him,  and  his  righteousness  it 
44  sustained  him."  Well,  therefore,  might  our  Lord 
say,  as  he  did  to  Thomas,  John,  xiv.  6.  "  I  am  the 
41  way,  and  the  truth,  and  the  life  :  no  man  cometh  unto 
44  the  Father  but  by  me."  And  his  apostle,  Acts,  xiv. 
12.  u  Neither  is  there  salvation  in  any  other  :  for  there 
44  is  none  other  name  under  heaven  given  among  men, 
44  whereby  we  must  be  saved."  Here  is  a  spectacle, 
enough  to  astonish  heaven  and  earth  !  Behold,  God 
himself,  the  holy,  infinite,  and  offended  God,  became  a 
man  ;  and  in  that  nature,  was  pierced  with  the  sword  of 
divine  justice,  and  died  by  it,  to  bring  in  everlasting 
righteousness  for  his  own  rebellious  subjects  !  !  From 
the  time,  the  flaming  sword  turning  every  way  was  set, 
in  the  garden  of  Eden,  to  guard  the  way  of  the  tree  of 
life,  through  the  wonderful  forbearance  of  God,  the 
sword  of  his  justice  had  seemed  to  have  lain  asleep, 
God  the  Son  had  undertaken  the  work  of  the  redemp- 
tion of  sinners,  and  to  open  a  way  for  them  to  the  tree  of 
life  in  the  paradise  of  God.  For  his  sake,  and  on  his 
account,  God  forbore,  and  was  long  suffering  and  patient. 


57 

But  no  sooner  does  Jesns,  the  surety,  appear,  to  inter- 
pose and  put  himself  between  divine  justice  and  infinite- 
ly guilty  man,  than  Behold  !  the  loud  and  awful  voice 
is  heard  from  the  throne,  Zech.  xiii.  7.  "  Awake,  O 
'*  sword,  against  my  shepherd,  and  against  the  man  that 
*'  is  my  fellow,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts  :  smite  the  shep- 
44  herd,  and  the  sheep  shall  be  scattered."  According- 
ly, this  mighty  and  glorious  Saviour  must  make  himself 
a  sin-offering  :  and,  when  he  was  made  to  feel  the  sword, 
which  awoke  to  smite  him,  was  in  an  agony  ;  and,  in  the 
bitterness  cf  his  soul,  cried  out,  u  My  God,  My  God, 
41  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me,"  and  gave  up  the  ghost  J 

WAS  there  ever  such  a  scene  as  this  !  Did  heaven  or 
earth  ever  behold  such  a  sight !  Look  on,  O  our  souls  ! 
and  tremble  ;  and  think  how  awful  and  eternally  reme- 
diless our  condition  must  be,  if  that  terrible  sword,  the 
sword  of  divine  justice,  under  which  the  mighty  Redeem- 
er agonized,  and  breathed  out  his  precious  soul  and 
died,  be  unsheathed  against  us  !  For  our  sins,  and  not 
his  own,  remember,  it  was,  that  he  endured  and  suffered 
all  this  !  Where,  but  in  the  infinite,  never  failing  fountain 
itself,  could  ever  be  found  such  goodness,  such  love  ! — 
And,  as  surely  as  this  sword  was  awakened  against  God's 
fellow,  and  smote  the  shepherd,  it  will  be  awakened 
against  us,  and  smite  and  eternally  destroy  us,  unless  we 
repent  and  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  to  the  saving  of  our 
souls.  Was  there  ever  such  kindness,  such  condescen- 
sion and  grace,  as  the  great  God  and  Saviour  manifests 
towards  us  !  If  we  could  be  won  by  kindness  and  mercy, 
by  goodness  and  love,  not  one,  who  hears  the  glorious 
gospel,  could  ever  resist  those  strong  and  engaging  mo- 
tives it  presents  to  us,  to  love  and  serve  and  follow 
Christ  ! 

6.  WE  cannot  conclude,  without  remarking  on  the 
inexpressibly  tender,  gracious  and  fatherly  manner,  in 
which  God  treated  his  wicked  offspring,  after  they  had 
so  impiously  and  grossly  offended.  Every  step  of  di- 
vine providence  towards  them,  was  marked  with  kindr 
ness.  Never  did  an  earthly  parent  treat  his  offending 
children  with  such  lenity,  such  mildness  and  gentleness. 
When  they  itogd,  naked  and  trembling,  before  him, 
H 


SB 

without  one  excuse  to  make  for  themselves,  or  cne  rea- 
son to  expect  any  thing  but  a  sentence  of  eternal  death 
to  be  immediately  executed  on  them,  Behold  !  there  is 
nothing  like  an  evil  denounced,  until  God  had  given  the 
gracious  assurance,  in  that  ever  memorable  promise, 
that  the  seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  serpent's 
head,  that  there  might  be  mercy  for  them.  His  guard- 
ing the  way  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  excluding  them  from 
it,  was  so  far  from  being  unkind,  that  it  was  manifestly 
the  reverse  : — As  their  taking  of  its  fruit  could  not  pos- 
sibly have  been  otherwise  than  hurtful  to  them.  As  to 
the  evils,  which  God  did,  in  fact,  inflict  on  them,  they 
were  light  and  moderate — all  fitted  to  soften  their  hearts 
into  sorrow  and  mourning  for  what  they  had  done  ;  and, 
to  prepare  them  tor  salvation  through  the  promised 
Se«d. —  These  evils  mixed,  too,  with  abundance  of  kind- 
ness and  mercy  ! 

FURTHERMORE,  it  is  to  be  recollected,  that,  though 
God  drove  out  our  first  parents  from  the  pleasant  seat 
of  their  original  abode,  and,  in  a  most  solemn  and  stri- 
king manner,  forbade  their  approach  to  the  tree  of  life  ; 
yet  he  graciously  instituted  sacrifices  ior  them,  and,  as 
we  have  much  reason  to  suppose,  manifested  his  merci- 
ful acceptance  of  their  offerings.  And  God  held  up,  at 
the  same  time,  before  their  eyes,  significant  symbols  of 
the  design  and  end  of  these  bloody  sacrifices — such  as 
were  instructive  and  affecting,  fitted  to  impress  them 
with  a  sense  of  the  evil  of  sin,  and  lead  their  faith  and 
hope  to  the  great  and  all-sufficient  atonement,  which  was 
to  be  made,  in  due  time,  for  the  sins  of  the  v/orld.  What 
can  we  say  to  such  kindness,  such  love,  such  condescen- 
sion and  grace  as  this  !  Are  we  uninterested  in  these  re- 
markable scenes  ?  Infinitely  far  from  it.  We  are  the 
polluted,  guilty  descendants  from  the  first  guilty  pair. 
Though  most  unworthy  and  undutiful  children,  we  are, 
nevertheless,  the  offspring  of  the  same  Glorious  God. 
In  that  God,  who  treated  our  guilty  first  parents  with 
such  ineffable  tenderness  and  gentleness,  we  now  live, 
and  move,  and  have  our  being.  Instead  of  being  less 
indebted  for  divine  kindnesses  and  mercies  than  they 
were,  we  are  incomparably  more  so.  We  have  not,  like 
them,  to  look  to  the  great  and  all-sufficient  atonement, 


59 

which  lays  the  only  foundation  of  hope,  through  types 
and  shadows.  We  live  in  the  happy  period  of  gospel 
light  and  day  ;  and,  hear  of  the  actual  coming  ard  death, 
the  resurrection  and  ascension  of  the  Son  of  God.  To 
us  is  the  way  now  opened  into  the  most  holy  place  ;  and 
we  may  come,  ourselves,  to  the  mercy  seat  by  Christ* 
Oh !  let  no  one  ever  complain,  that  his  lot  is  hard,  or 
that  the  ways  of  the  Lord  are  rrot  equal ;  or,  ever  mur- 
mur, that  the  way  for  us  to  enter  into  life,  is  made  diffi- 
cult—-too  narrow  and  strait !  Salvation  is  brought  neatf 
to  us  ;  and  we  have  a  hope  set  before  us,  unspeakably 
more  animating  and  glorious,  than  ever  did,  or  could 
enter  the  hearts  of  our  first  parents,  while  in  their  ori- 
ginal state  of  purity  and  innocence. 

7.  WE  are  not  to  omit  remarking,  that,  in  God's  deal- 
Ings  with  our  first  parents,  immediately  after  their  sin 
and  fall,  we  are  naturally  led  to  contemplate  the  first  ex- 
ercise and  discovery  of  the  glorious  attribute  of  divine, 
sovereign  mercy ,  that  ever  was.  This  was  the  first 
time  that  mercy  ever  beamed — that  grace  ever  appear- 
ed. Now,  for  the  first  time,  it  began  to  be  apprehend- 
ed, by  the  heavenly  host,  that  there  was — that  there 
could  be  love  and  goodness  enough  in  the  Great  and  Ho- 
ly God,  to  treat  rebel  worms  with  such  unspeakable  ten- 
derness—To pardon,  and  to  receive  them  into  his  ever- 
lasting love  and  favor.  Now  that,  which  is  the  princi- 
pal glory  of  the  wisdom  and  love  of  the  eternal  God,  be- 
gan to  be  discovered.  And,  if  such  were  the  first  fruits 
of  mercy,  as  appeared  in  the  ineffably  kind  treatment, 
which  sinful  man  received  from  his  offended  Creator 
and  Sovereign  ;  how  very  rich  and  glorious  will  be  the 
harvest ! 

HERE  we  behold  the  first  stone,  that  was  laid  in  the 
foundation  of  that  spiritual  building,  which  is  to  rise  in 
glory,  till  it  be  completed  in  the  heavenly  world — that 
wonderful  building,  of  which  Christ  Jesus,  the  promis- 
ed seed,  is  the  chief  corner  stone.  Here  we  see  the  be- 
ginning of  the  new  Creation — that  great  and  glorious 
work,  for  which  the  world  was  principally  made.  Here 
that  great  and  marvellous  plan  of  redemption,  which 
was  laid  between  the  Father  and  the  Son,  in  eternity, 


f>0 

begins  to  open— Here  opens,  as  it  were,  the  first  fold  of 
that  manifold  wisdom  of  Go.i,  which  is  to  be  known  un- 
to the  principalities  and  powers  in  heavenly  places,  by  a 
church  redeemed  from  among  men  by  the  precious 
blood  of  Christ. 

IF  such  ineffable  divine  tenderness  and  goodness  ap- 
peared in  God's  treatment  of  his  offending  offspring,  in 
the  first  opening  of  the  scheme  of  mercy,  and  of  re- 
demption by  Christ ;  what  a  majesty  and  glory  o/XOVE 
will  shine  forth  in  its  completion !  What  wonders  will 
appear — what  astonishing  scenes  will  be  unfolded,  when 
the  -whole  church  from  among  men  shall  be  gathered  in — 
•when  God's  house,  which  he  will  inhabit  forever,  shall 
be  completed  and  filled  ;  and,  an  innumerable  multitude, 
all  made  white  -and  clean  in  the  blooci  of  the  Lamb,  shall 
be  presented  faultless  before  the  presence  of  his  glory, 
with  exceeding  joy.  AMEN,  EVEN  GO  COME  LORD 
JESUS ! 


THE    END. 


ERRAI  UM.— In  48th  page,  2d  line  of  2d  paragraph,  for  "  thenV" 
read  it. 


14  DAY  USE 

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